GAO’s recent dismissal of a protest filed by A2A Integrated Logistics, Inc. provides an important reminder regarding the strict timeliness rules that apply to bid protests. Quoters were required to electronically submit quotations and A2A experienced difficulty doing so. After contract award was announced, A2A emailed the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) stating that it had been unable to submit its quotation. Twenty days later, the VA responded, confirming that A2A’s quotation had not been received; A2A filed an agency-level protest the same day, which the VA dismissed as untimely. A2A then filed a GAO protest.Continue Reading GAO Dismissal Emphasizes that Attempts to Resolve Concerns with Procuring Agency Do Not Extend the Time to File a Protest
Agency Said Awardee Fully Mitigated OCI; GAO Says: “Nope!”
Most organizational conflict of interest (OCI) sustains arise where the record shows that an agency failed to analyze the potential for a conflict. But GAO’s decision in A Square Group, LLC, is a rarer type of OCI sustain: the agency considered the purported OCI and documented its conclusion that the OCI had been mitigated. However, GAO found that the agency’s conclusions were unreasonable, and the OCI risk remained.Continue Reading Agency Said Awardee Fully Mitigated OCI; GAO Says: “Nope!”
“Better Late Than Never?” Not Really. Two Recent GAO Sustains Highlight the Importance of Contemporaneous Documentation
“Now or later?” As individuals, we are constantly asked to prioritize our time, identifying the tasks that need to be done NOW versus those that can be put off until later. In the bid protest context, the question arises as well when agencies seek to “fill in the gaps” in the administrative record with additional detail, a practice GAO has permitted so long as those details are consistent with the contemporaneous record. But, as highlighted by two recent GAO sustain decisions, when agencies attempt to perform new analyses “later” in response to a protest, those efforts are often unsuccessful. Continue Reading “Better Late Than Never?” Not Really. Two Recent GAO Sustains Highlight the Importance of Contemporaneous Documentation
Congress Takes Aim at Organizational Conflicts of Interest in Federal Acquisition
On March 23, 2022, a bipartisan group of senators introduced the Preventing Organizational Conflicts of Interest in Federal Acquisition Act. Designed to identify and address potential conflicts of interest in the federal acquisition system, current and prospective government contractors should closely monitor the Act’s progress.
The Act emphasizes the potential for conflicts of interest
Not So Majeure—GAO Finds Agency Properly Rejected a Bid Classifying All COVID-19-Related Events as an Excusable Cause of Delay
In American Mine Services, LLC, B-420138 (Dec. 3, 2021), the Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) denied a protest by American Mine Services (“AMS”), finding that the Army Corps of Engineers (“Corps”) reasonably rejected AMS’ bid because it included a provision stating that COVID-19, as well as other similar pandemics or endemics, would be considered “force
COVID-19 Benchmarking Survey Results
As part of our continuing commitment to help our clients address the effects of COVID-19, we are providing the initial, anonymized, and aggregated results from our benchmarking questionnaire. We continue to gather information and update the responses, but given the rapidly changing environment, we wanted you to have this information sooner than later.
Our
COVID-19 Benchmarking Survey
We thank our clients for your input on our effort to help contractors benchmark what companies are doing as part of COVID-19 contingency planning. Please use the survey link below to access the brief benchmarking questionnaire. Assuming we have a sufficient number of responses, we will aggregate and share responses (on an anonymous basis).
Introducing the “Government Contracts Classroom”
Welcome to our Government Contracts Classroom. Through a variety of media, the Classroom will serve as a resource for government contractors. The Classroom is intended to provide insight and training on issues that government contractors, and their legal and business teams, often face. The Classroom will be updated regularly with new content, host on-demand
Why Doing Business with the Government Will Get Tougher for Contractors In 2019—Read “Battening Down the Hatches on Cybersecurity” in our Regulatory Forecast
Crowell & Moring has issued its fifth annual report on regulatory trends for in-house counsel. “Regulatory Forecast 2019: What Corporate Counsel Need to Know for the Coming Year” explores a diverse range of regulatory developments coming out of Washington and other leading regulatory centers of power, and it takes a deep dive into
DoD Implements New Enhanced Debriefing Procedures from the 2018 NDAA
On March 22, 2018, the Department of Defense (DoD), Office of the Under Secretary of Defense issued a Class Deviation letter to the heads of all Department of Defense agencies requiring, effective immediately, that every DoD agency ensure that its contracting officers implement the recommendations for enhanced post-award debriefings set forth in Section 818 of the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
The direction makes clear that DoD agencies are to provide unsuccessful offerors who are given a debriefing in accordance with FAR 15.506(d) the opportunity to “submit additional questions related to the debriefing within two business days after receiving the debriefing.” The agency will then be required to “respond in writing to the additional questions submitted by an unsuccessful offeror within five business days after receipt of the questions” and must hold the debriefing open until it “delivers its written responses to the unsuccessful offeror.”Continue Reading DoD Implements New Enhanced Debriefing Procedures from the 2018 NDAA