Helping individuals, companies, and organizations understand key legal and practical considerations for promoting compliance and making better business decisions in these types of federal, state, and local government contracting matters MORE

Bid Protests and the Contracting Process

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Just as in golf swings, your follow-through in Government Accountability Office (GAO) protests can mean the difference between success and failure. And if you don’t have a solid argument to bolster your protest grounds, you might want to rethink bringing them in the first place. The recent GAO decision in U.S. Electrodynamics, Inc., B-418574.2;…

While some rules may seem basic enough to overlook, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) decision sustaining the protest in Avionic Instruments LLC (Avionic), B-418604, B-418604.2 (June 30, 2020) reminds us of a fundamental tenet in government contracting for both agencies and offerors: abide by the terms of the solicitation.

The underlying solicitation, a request for…

A lie may be a lie, but false representations and certifications on SAM may not necessarily be a proper protest ground. As the recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) decision in Phoenix Environmental Design, Inc. (Phoenix), B-418473, B-418473.2 (May 20, 2020) suggests, “minor” inaccurate statements may fall short of sustaining a protest.

Through the underlying solicitation,…

Ideally, an agency’s solicitation would provide comprehensive information about its requirements so that interested offerors each had what they needed to craft their best response to the agency’s actual needs. Such a situation would create a level playing field for competition and allow the agency to conduct a meaningful “apples to apples” evaluation to determine…

Government contractors should consider all contract performance vitally important because they can’t always control which past performance is considered by agency evaluators. The recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) decision in Sayres & Associates Corporation (Sayres), B-418382 (March 31, 2020) reminds offerors that poor past performance, even under just one contract, can have lasting negative effects…