By Adam K. Lasky on November 4, 2015 | Posted in Bid Protests
A recent decision by GAO in FedServ-RBS JV, LLC, B-411790, provides yet another reminder to 8(a) joint ventures to submit proposed joint venture agreements to the U.S. Small Business Administration (“SBA”) for approval as early as possible. This case shows that waiting until the last minute to submit your joint venture agreement to SBA […]
By Oles Morrison on October 15, 2015 | Posted in Bid Protests
A recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) bid protest decision provides yet another example of the importance for contractors to identify potential organizational conflicts of interest (OCI) when submitting a proposal in response to a federal government solicitation. In DV United, LLC, B-411620, B-411620.2, Sept. 16, 2015, GAO denied a bid protest […]
By Adam K. Lasky on October 6, 2015 | Posted in Bid Protests
Have you ever had a contract dispute and looked back at the contract only to realize that you hadn’t contemplated that type of dispute occurring, and the contract is essentially silent on the issue? It seems that this is the type of situation that GAO recently encountered with its bid protest regulations. Unfortunately, this […]
By Adam K. Lasky on October 1, 2015 | Posted in Bid Protests
In a recent bid protest decision, Coulson Aviation (USA), Inc., the Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) injected uncertainty regarding informal communications between a prospective offeror and the agency expressing concern about a solicitation provision. Unfortunately, this decision may punish contractors that seek to resolve concerns about a solicitation outside the protest […]
By Howard W. Roth on January 13, 2015 | Posted in Bid Protests
Last month, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims denied a post-award bid protest of a contract set aside by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) for AbilityOne Program contractors. The court found the government correctly considered the impact of the award on the incumbent contractor, an Alaska Native Corporation (ANC), and […]
By Adam K. Lasky on November 19, 2014 | Posted in Bid Protests
Today, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued its annual report bid protest report to congress. The report shows a sharp decline in the rate of protests sustained by GAO. For several years the “sustain rate” at GAO had consistently hovered between 16% and 19%. Today’s report shows the “sustain […]
By Adam K. Lasky on October 30, 2014 | Posted in Bid Protests
In the world of GAO post-award bid protests, there are certain arguments that are particularly prevalent amongst sustained protests (such as the failure to follow the solicitation evaluation criteria, inadequate documentation of the source selection decision, unequal treatment of offerors, and unreasonable price or cost evaluation), and there are other arguments that while less prevalent […]
By Adam K. Lasky on October 29, 2014 | Posted in Bid Protests
It is not uncommon for a FAR Part 15 negotiated procurement to include a round of “Oral Presentations” in the proposal/evaluation process. Oral Presentations are permitted by FAR 15.102, and are usually used to augment the agency’s understanding of the written proposal. But at what point does the dialogue between […]
By Adam K. Lasky on October 7, 2014 | Posted in Bid Protests
In a rare move, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims (COFC) imposed sanctions on the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for its conduct during the bid protest of Coastal Environmental Group, Inc. v. United States. While the EPA ultimately prevailed on the merits of the protest, the EPA’s conduct was so egregious […]
By Oles Morrison on September 24, 2014 | Posted in Bid Protests
This is the first in a series of posts highlighting common mistakes made (by protestors) in bid protests at GAO. Today’s post discusses a mistake related to the deadline for filing supplemental protests when an extension is granted for filing comments on the agency report. This mistake is made by […]
By Adam K. Lasky on September 23, 2014 | Posted in Bid Protests
One might assume that if the top two proposals in a best-value procurement receive the same ratings on all non-price factors, the proposals are obviously equal in technical merit and the award must go to the lower priced proposal. However, this assumption would be incorrect. And, as GAO recently pointed […]
By Adam K. Lasky on July 1, 2014 | Posted in Bid Protests
In a recent bid protest decision concerning the Department of Energy’s award of legacy management support services award contract, GAO held that the agency acted reasonably when evaluating protestor WSS’s past performance on the incumbent contract by disregarding two Contractor Performance Assessment Reports (“CPARs”), which reflected “exceptional” performance, in favor of […]
By Adam K. Lasky on June 7, 2014 | Posted in Bid Protests
Back in December 2013, GAO issued a protest decision involving a battle between the two private space contractors, Blue Origin and SpaceX, to lease Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A – where the majority of Apollo and Space Shuttle missions were launched – from NASA. Although the ultimate decision […]