As required by the Competition in Contracting Act (CICA), the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently published its Annual Bid Protest Report to Congress for Fiscal Year (FY) 2025.[1]

Each year, the Comptroller General must report to Congress on (1) any instance in which a federal agency failed to fully implement GAO’s recommendation during the prior year; (2) any protest decision that was not rendered within 100 days of its filing; and (3) a summary of the most prevalent grounds for sustaining protests during the preceding year. The report contains bid protest statistics for FY 2021-2025:

 FY2025FY2024FY2023FY2022FY2021
Cases Filed1688 (down 6%)1803 (down 11%)2025 (increase of 22%)1658 (down 12%)1897 (down 12%)
Cases Closed17371706204116552017
Merit (Sustain + Deny Decisions)380386608455581
Number of Sustains53611885985
Sustain Rate14%16%31%13%15%
Effectiveness Rate52%52%57%51%48%
ADR[2] (cases used)5376697476
ADR Success Rate91%92%90%92%84%
Hearings.5% (3 cases).2% (1 case)2% (22 cases).27% (2 cases)1% (13 cases)

KEY TAKEAWAYS

GAO’s annual report gives the federal procurement community valuable data concerning the most prolific bid protest forum. Below, we discuss the following key takeaways from the report:

  • The number of protests filed at the GAO in FY 2025 decreased by 6% compared to FY 2024.
  • The overall “effectiveness rate” of GAO bid protests continued to be high, once again exceeding 50%.
  • Hearings at the GAO remained remarkably rare.
  • ADR usage declined slightly, but the drop is consistent with the overall decrease in GAO filings for FY 2025.
  • One federal agency did not fully implement GAO’s recommendations.
  • The leading grounds on which protests were sustained during FY 2025 included: (1) unreasonable technical evaluation, (2) unreasonable cost or price evaluation, and (3) unreasonable rejection of proposals.
  1. The Number of Protests Filed Decreased by 6% from FY 2024

Total GAO protest filings fell another 6% in FY 2025, following an 11% drop during the prior fiscal year. Several factors may be contributing to this trend. But without more granular information regarding the protests filed at GAO each year (e.g., dollar value, incumbent protester), it is difficult to know the true causes.   

That said, the data does reveal one noteworthy overarching trend. That is, while the number of GAO protest declined, more protesters are filing complaints at the U.S. Court of Federal Claims (COFC). Indeed, COFC received a record 266 protests in 2024—a significant increase from the 169 protests filed in 2023.[3] The ease of obtaining access to the full procurement record is likely drawing would-be protesters away from GAO and towards the Court—especially when it comes to high-dollar value acquisitions. Even so, GAO remains the primary forum, with 1,688 protests filed in FY 2025.[4]

  1. Effectiveness Rate Continues to Exceed 50%

The sustain rate dropped slightly from 16% to 14%, but the overall effectiveness rate held steady at 52%. GAO deems a protest “effective” when a protester obtains some form of relief as a result of either voluntary agency corrective action or as a result of a GAO decision sustaining the protest. However, federal contractors should remember that corrective action does not necessarily guarantee a contract award. Agencies often take targeted corrective steps—such as bolstering documentation or reevaluating limited aspects of the record—that may not ultimately change the agencies’ award decisions.

  1. Hearings Continue to Be Rare

GAO conducted three hearings in FY 2025, up from one in FY 2024, but still amounting to only about 0.5% of total cases filed in FY 2025. Unlike the bid protest practice at the COFC, GAO generally convenes hearings only for compelling reasons, such as the need for expert testimony or to resolve material factual disputes that cannot be addressed adequately on the written record.

  1. ADR Dropped Slightly

The number of cases in which ADR was used dropped from 76 cases in FY 2024 to 53 cases in FY 2025. However, this drop is generally consistent with the overall drop in FY 2025’s GAO filings.

  1. One Federal Agency Declined to Fully Implement GAO’s Recommendations

GAO also reported that one federal agency declined to implement GAO’s recommendations. In ATP Gov, LLC, B‑422938, B-422938.2, Dec. 12, 2024, 2024 CPD ¶ 306, GAO sustained the protest and recommended that the agency either reevaluate proposals or revise the solicitation (and evaluate revised proposals), and that it reimburse protest costs. The agency declined to fully implement those recommendations, citing substantial costs, delays, and national security impacts. The agency also explained that because the protester did not file its protest within five days of receiving a debriefing, there was no automatic stay of performance during the protest, and the agency permitted the awardee to continue performing the contract. Such agency decisions to not fully implement recommended corrective action are rare, but the ATP Gov decision serves to remind potential protesters that GAO decisions are recommendations rather than binding court orders—and that to maximize their opportunity to obtain meaningful relief, protests should be timely filed as to trigger an automatic stay of contract performance.

  1. Most Prevalent Grounds for Sustaining Protests

The leading reasons for sustaining protests in FY 2025 were the agency’s performance of an unreasonable technical evaluation, unreasonable cost or price evaluation, or an unreasonable rejection of proposals. These align closely with prior-year patterns, which featured unreasonable technical evaluation, flawed selection decisions, and unreasonable cost or price evaluation.[5]

CONCLUSION

GAO’s FY 2025 bid protest report to Congress provides important information for federal contractors. Although the number of protests filed has declined, GAO’s effectiveness rate remains steady at 52%, meaning that more than half of the protestors received some form of relief either through agency’s voluntary corrective action or through a GAO’s sustained decision.  Therefore, GAO continues to serve as a primary and effective forum for seeking oversight of executive branch procurement actions and resolving bid protests.

[1] https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-26-900695; see 31 U.S.C. § 3554(e)(2)

[2] Alternative dispute resolution is referred to here as “ADR.”

[3] Compare 2024 COFC protest filings https://www.uscfc.uscourts.gov/sites/cfc/files/statistical_report_2024.pdf with 2023 filings https://www.uscfc.uscourts.gov/sites/cfc/files/statistical_report_2023.pdf.

[4] GAO adopted a heightened pleading standard in August 2025, requiring protesters to “provide, at a minimum, credible allegations that are supported by evidence and are sufficient, if uncontradicted, to establish the likelihood of the protester’s claim of improper agency action.”[4] This increased upfront burden, coupled with agencies’ frequent threshold dismissal requests, may end up discouraging marginal filings. As the change occurred late in FY 2025, we will have to wait for next year’s annual report to assess any meaningful impact of the heightened pleading standard.

[5] https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-25-900611#:~:text=During%20the%202024%20fiscal%20year,and%2032%20requests%20for%20reconsideration.