Bid Protests

On November 21, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) denied an unsuccessful bidder’s protest, arguing that the terms of a solicitation were biased and that the awardee failed to comply with a mandatory solicitation requirement. Continue Reading Bid Protest Minute: Recent Decision Imparts Lessons on Timeliness of Solicitation Challenges and Prejudice

We represented AM General (AMG), an automotive manufacturer that builds military vehicles for government customers, including the Humvee, in a successful bid protest involving a $9.7 billion contract for the U.S. Army to build and deliver to the U.S. Army a new generation of the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV).Continue Reading Bid Protest Win for AM General on Multi-Billion Dollar Contract

On July 8, the Department of Defense (DoD) Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment (OUSD (A&S)) announced its first update to the Other Transactions (OT) Guide since November 2018. The DoD OT Guide provides a detailed overview of the OT process and best practices, from pre-solicitation to award and post-award management. Continue Reading Department of Defense Issues First Update Since 2018 to Other Transactions Guide

We recently examined four recent Federal Circuit cases that “signal significant changes to long-standing jurisdictional precedent in bid protests and Contract Disputes Act (CDA) claims.”Continue Reading Federal Circuit Cases Impacting Jurisdictional Precedent in Bid Protests and Contract Disputes Act Claims

We will join Chuck Jenkins, CEO of CWU, Inc., to present a panel titled “Preventing a Potential Protest/Handling a Federal Contract Protest Once it is Filed” for the FPTAC at the University of South Florida on June 8, 2023. Continue Reading Preventing a Potential Protest/Handling a Federal Contract Protest Once it is Filed

Over the last few years, the government has shifted away from lowest price technically acceptable valuations placing a larger importance on past performance. The past performance requirement can sometimes create obstacles for firms who lack the required substantive past performance bonafides. A recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) decision offers another avenue as the agency attributed the past performance of two joint venture (JV) partners who previously worked as a prime and subcontractor on similar contracts to their Mentor-Protégé JV. Continue Reading Joint Venture Past Performance Can Be Gleaned from Previous Prime-Sub Relationships

As a general matter, an agency should reject a bid out of hand if it is deemed defective due to problems with bidder responsiveness.  However, flawed bids determined on account of issues with bidder responsibility can be supplemented with the requested information any time before award. On May 18, the GAO wrangled with that critical difference in operative language, finding in favor of a bidder who successfully demonstrated the requested information dealt with a question of responsibility, rather than one of responsiveness, in J.E. McAmis, Inc., B-420518; B-420518.2.
Continue Reading Responsibility vs. Responsiveness: A Critical Difference Saves Flawed Initial Bid

I recently outlined the implications of the Department of Defense’s (DoD) new “enhanced debriefing rule” for government contractors that is intended to provide information and details about award decisions. However, as I explain in the article, “While this increased transparency was intended to discourage bid protests by sharing more information about award decisions, and some…

In an opinion first publicly released on November 3, the Court of Federal Claims (COFC) took the somewhat usual, but not unheard of, step of sanctioning the government for mishandling the administrative record (AR) in a bid protest. Contractors can take heart that COFC will hold the government accountable when it fails to produce the entire AR.  The decision also provides a useful reminder of one of the advantages of filing a protest at COFC rather than the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

Background

As we recently wrote about on this blog, on August 2, Judge Solomson sustained a protest filed by Oak Grove Technologies that argued the putative awardee had improperly benefited from unmitigated unequal access to information and biased ground rules organizational conflicts of interests. The decision noted that the government had failed to include in the AR a Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) report indicating an offeror was ineligible and a letter terminating the chair of the Source Selection Evaluation Board that suggested the chair had failed to evaluate the offerors’ proposals fairly.

The decision admonished the government for its “sentient choices regarding the contents of the administrative record, all of which appear to have favored the Agency,” noting that “[s]uch apparent gamesmanship wastes judicial resources and undermines trust in both the procurement and disputes process.”Continue Reading Records in Bid Protest Become More Complete – COFC Sanctions the Government for AR Omissions

From the Bass, Berry & Sims Blog Network
From the Bass, Berry & Sims Blog Network

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