On December 8, 2016, the Senate passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) of 2017 previously passed by the House, and the legislation is pending President Obama’s signature. Once signed, Section 835 of the NDAA will restore and make permanent the Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) jurisdiction to hear civilian agency task order protests. In addition, the NDAA will increase to $25 million the jurisdictional threshold for task orders issued by the Department of Defense (DoD).

From the enactment of the Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act in 1994 through 2008, jurisdiction over task order protests at the GAO and the Court of Federal Claims (COFC) was limited to allegations that a task order increased the scope, period or maximum value of the underlying contract. Responding in part to agencies’ increasing reliance on task orders, the 2008 NDAA extended GAO’s protest jurisdiction, but not COFC’s, to include protests of task orders awards over $10 million on other grounds, but provided that the subsection expired in May 2011. The 2012 NDAA extended the GAO’s jurisdiction over civilian agency task orders, but only through September 30, 2016.Continue Reading Legislation Restores GAO Civilian Task Order Protest Jurisdiction (for Good this Time?), But Introduces New Differences Between DoD and Civilian Task Order Jurisdiction