Bid Protests

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Federal procurements often include a competitive range of offerors seeking the contract award.  The Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) competitive range procedure offers the agency an incremental stage in the competition where it can pare down a large pool of offerors into a narrow group consisting of only those proposals with a reasonable chance of receiving…

In today’s Federal marketplace, it is very common to see solicitations that give the Agency the option of entering into discussions with offerors.  The primary objective of discussions is to maximize competition and, in turn, the Agency’s ability to obtain the best possible value.

Once it makes the decision to enter into discussions, the Agency…

Two pieces of advice I often provide to government contractors are:

1.When responding to a solicitation, give the government precisely what it asks for – right down to the letter.  This includes providing the information in the correct section of your proposal.  The agency will not play hide-and-seek; and

2.  If you think there…

The most common basis to establish timeliness for a Government Accountability Office (GAO) bid protest is found in Section 21.2 of the GAO’s regulations.  Under the regulation, the protester must file the protest “not later than 10 days after the basis of protest is known or should have been known”.

Important Disclaimer…

In a recent post, I discussed new legislation that could signal an uptick in Best Value procurements for complex service-based contracts.  In the view of many (including me), more Best Value RFPs is a win/win for both contractors and the government.

As a quick refresher, Best Value procurements utilize a Best Value Tradeoff…

Government contractors usually find themselves appearing before the Government Accountability Office (GAO) on a bid protest for one of two reasons:  (1) you believe that the government erroneously did not award a contract to your business or (2) your business holds a contract award that is challenged by a disappointed offeror.  Either way, there is…

We often discuss the need for government contractors to Read and React when responding to a solicitation:  (1) Read the RFP and understand all of the requirements and limitations and (2) React to the RFP’s evaluation scheme by playing the appropriate strengths and minimizing weaknesses.  And sometimes, the best reaction is knowing the value…

Government contractors know the odds on GAO bid protests – are they are not all that good.  Even with a noticeable uptick, the statistics reveal that less than 1/4 (about 23%) of all bid protests were sustained in FY 16.  Even factoring in voluntary agency corrective action, the odds of a positive outcome are…

This is not a unique story – but there is still a lesson for Federal contractors to learn.

A recent GAO decision considered an electronic proposal submitted by email just prior to the 4:00 p.m. deadline.  Although the contractor beat the clock, the proposal did not arrive in the contracting officer’s electronic mailbox until about…