The following is an installment in Crowell & Moring’s Bid Protest Sustain of the Month Series.  In this series, Crowell’s Government Contracts Practice will keep you up to date with a summary of the most notable bid protest sustain decision each month.  Below, Crowell Consultant Cherie Owen discusses Hometown Veterans Medical, LLC, B-422751…

On November 14, 2024, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) released its Annual Report on Bid Protests for Fiscal Year 2024, containing the full statistics shown below:Continue Reading 2024 GAO Bid Protest Report Shows Notable Decrease in Merit Decisions

The term “bid protest” typically calls to mind challenges to an agency’s award of a contract.  But two recent GAO sustain decisions—Wilson 5 Service Company, Inc., B-422670, Sept. 25, 2024, 2024 CPD ¶ 230 and MAXIMUS Federal Services, Inc., B-422676, Sept. 16, 2024, 2024 CPD ¶ 222—highlight another impactful tool for protecting a contractor’s ability to compete fairly: pre-award challenges to ambiguous or unreasonably restrictive solicitation terms.Continue Reading Bid Protest: Unreasonable and Ambiguous Solicitation Terms Sink Procurements

What You Need to Know

• Key takeaway #1Protests of an agency’s actions during corrective action can raise tricky timeliness issues—if the protest could be construed as challenging the ground rules of the procurement, the protest may be subject to the pre-award timeliness rules. But protests that do not challenge the procurement ground rules, and instead

GAO issued three sustain decisions in June, but the Sparksoft Corporation decision stands out for its discussion of prejudice.  In Sparksoft, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) sought to procure supplemental security testing for the agency’s Center for Clinical Standards and Quality (CCSQ).  CMS evaluated Sparksoft and the eventual awardee, TSG, as follows:Continue Reading June 2024 Bid Protest Sustain of the Month

In February 2024, GAO continued its streak of taking a hard look at procurements conducted under Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) subpart 8.4.  Subpart 8.4 allows the government to use “simplified” ordering procedures to obtain commercial supplies and services.  However, some agencies have apparently adopted the position that “anything goes” in these simplified procurements.  Not so!  Over the past year, GAO has issued a series of decisions emphasizing that, although this process is supposed to be simplified, it is not intended to be lawless.  (Check out our discussion of the Washington Business Dynamics, LLC, decision in December’s Sustain of the Month post.)  This welcome trend has continued into 2024, with GAO’s issuance of a sustain decision in LOGMET LLC, B-422200, Feb. 21, 2024. Continue Reading February 2024 Bid Protest Sustain of the Month