Fans of the classic 1960s cartoon series Rocky and Bullwinkle may recall two minor characters, Chauncey and Edgar, who commented on the action by saying something like this: “Now there’s something you don’t see every day, Edgar.” “What’s that, Chauncey?” And then Chauncey would tell the joke, such as it was. (It usually wasn’t much.)
Gimme Some Money! – Recent GAO Cases on Recovering Bid Protest Costs
Although the film This Is Spinal Tap was released in 1984, a bid protest attorney whose client has gotten corrective action or had a protest sustained might still hum along with that film’s song, Gimme Some Money, when thinking about the recovery of protest costs. A protester’s urge to “turn it up to eleven”
When Does an Enhanced Debriefing Close? A Recent Court Decision Explains
One might forget these days that bid protests are still going on. But they are, and a recent Court of Federal Claims (COFC) case provides insight into the timeliness of protests for the purpose of obtaining a stay of contract performance when filed under the enhanced debriefing procedures of the Department of Defense (DOD).
Background
The 5 Most Important Bid Protest Decisions of 2019
Bradley attorneys Aron Beezley, Patrick Quigley, Sarah Osborne, and Lisa Markman recently published a Law360 Expert Analysis article on the five most important bid protest decisions of 2019: NetCentrics Corp. v. United States, PAE-Parsons Global Logistics Services, LLC v. United States, Space Exploration Technologies Corp. v. United States, Oracle America, Inc. v.
GAO Issues Rare Advisory Opinions
Recently, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued two advisory opinions relating to protests currently before the U.S. Court of Federal Claims (COFC). See AECOM Mgmt. 
Servs., Inc.–Advisory Opinion, B-417506.12, Sept. 18, 2019; see also PAE-Parsons Global Logistics Servs., LLC–Advisory Opinion, B-417506.13, Oct. 18, 2019. The decisions themselves do not involve unique issues, but
GAO Bid Protest Report for FY 2019 is Noteworthy
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently issued to Congress its annual bid protest report for Fiscal Year (FY) 2019. As discussed below, this year’s report is particularly noteworthy for multiple reasons, including that it shows that protesters continue to receive some form of relief in nearly half of the protests filed with GAO and
GAO Clarifies Its Authority to Review AbilityOne Bid Protests
The Government Accountability Office (GAO), in TeamWendy, LLC, B-417700.2 (Oct. 16, 2019), recently clarified the scope of its authority to review bid protests involving the addition of products or services to the AbilityOne procurement list. As this author discussed in a recent Law360 article, the GAO’s decision in this case provides important guidance
COFC: Material Proposal Misrepresentations Need Not Be Intentional
The U.S. Court of Federal Claims (COFC), in Netcentrics Corp. v. United States, recently upheld an agency’s decision to disqualify an offeror from a procurement based on a perceived material misrepresentation in the offeror’s proposal about the availability of key personnel. In so holding, the COFC made clear that a material proposal misrepresentation may
GAO Weighs In on Applicability of Small Business Runway Extension Act
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently denied two consolidated bid protests alleging that a solicitation issued by the General Services Administration (GSA) was inconsistent with the Small Business Runway Extension Act of 2018 in that the solicitation included a three-year — rather than a five-year — lookback period for the purpose of determining an offeror’s
GSA Rescinds All Alliant 2 Small Business Awards in Response to Protest
The General Services Administration (GSA) recently announced that, “[d]ue to corrective action being taken in response to a U.S. Court of Federal Claims protest, the government has rescinded all contract awards made in response to solicitation no. QTA0016GBA0002,” which is for the Alliant 2 Small Business Governmentwide Acquisition Contract.
What happened?
The subject solicitation, which