Federal Judge Schools VA On Timeliness, Alice In Wonderland
For a procuring agency, is there anything worse than being schooled on principles of timeliness and fairness by a federal judge? As the Department of Veterans Affairs found out in a recent decision by...
View ArticleCBCA Appeal Dismissed Because Contractor Filed By FedEx, Not USPS
As has been well-documented by news outlets, the U.S. Postal Service plans to end Saturday delivery to save money. With the USPS facing financial and customer service struggles, it is little wonder...
View ArticleNAICS Code Appeal Cannot Be Based On Sources Sought Notice
A NAICS code appeal cannot be based on a sources sought notice, according to a recent NAICS appeal decision issued by the SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals. In NAICS Appeal of Integrated Laboratory...
View ArticleSBA Size Protests: Timeliness Mistake Proves Costly
SBA size protests are often dismissed when contractors misunderstand the size protest timeliness rules. A recent SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals decision offers an important reminder that for...
View ArticleSBA Size Protests: Agency’s Corrective Action Did Not Extend Deadline
A procuring agency’s decision to take corrective action in response to a GAO bid protest did not extend the standard five-business day deadline to file a SBA size protest. This was the decision of the...
View ArticleSBA Doesn’t Fix Incorrect NAICS Code Regulation; Protester Pays The Price
A contractor’s NAICS code appeal was dismissed as untimely, even though it was filed within the time frame expressly established in an SBA regulation. In a recent decision, the SBA Office of Hearings...
View ArticleFifty-Nine Extra Seconds: GAO Clarifies Its 5:30 Filing Deadline
A bid protest filing with the U.S. Government Accountability Office will be deemed to be filed on a particular day if it is filed before 5:31 p.m. Eastern Standard Time , according to a recent GAO bid...
View ArticleSBA Size Protests: Expressing “Concerns” Is Not Enough
An unsuccessful offeror’s email to the Contracting Officer, in which the offeror expressed “concerns” about the awardee’s small business size status, was too vague to constitute an SBA size protest....
View ArticleSBA OHA Size Appeals: Request To Reopen Does Not Extend Filing Deadline
A company on the losing end of a SBA size protest can ask the SBA Area Office that issued the decision to consider reopening the size determination case. However, the 15-day window in which to file a...
View ArticleGAO: Pre-Debriefing Bid Protest Was Premature
A GAO bid protest was dismissed as premature because the protest was filed before a statutorily-required debriefing was held. In a recent bid protest decision, the GAO determined that the protest was...
View ArticleSBA OHA Size Appeals: Appellants Should Verify Email Receipt
A size appeal filed with the SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals may be submitted by email, but it is up to the appellant to verify that its email was received. As demonstrated in a recent size appeal...
View ArticleReverse Auctions: Last-Second Bid Was “Late”
In a reverse auction, a bid filed literally at the last second was excluded as late, perhaps because the reverse auction system did not process the bid until a few seconds after the deadline. As a...
View ArticleGAO: Initial Proposal “Nullified” By Solicitation Amendment
When an initial proposal is nullified by a subsequent solicitation amendment, an offeror must timely resubmit its proposal–or be eliminated from the competition. As one offeror recently learned, an...
View ArticleA GAO Reminder: Know Your Protest Filing Deadline
One of the first questions a contractor must ask itself before filing a bid protest with the GAO is whether its protest would be timely filed. But as a recent GAO decision highlighted, the answer to...
View ArticlePreaward Notice Did Not Affect Timeliness Of Price Realism Protest
An agency’s preaward notice did not start the “clock ticking” for an unsuccessful competitor’s subsequent GAO bid protest. In a recent decision, the GAO held that the protesters were not required to...
View ArticleGAO: AFSI Website Is No FedBizOpps
Under the GAO’s bid protest rules, an offeror is not presumed to have knowledge of information published on the Army’s Single Face to Industry (AFSI) website. In a recent bid protest decision, the GAO...
View ArticleSBA Size Protests: FAR Part 33 Doesn’t Affect Timeliness
A SBA size protest related to a sealed bid must be filed within five business days of bid opening–and the bid protest rules under FAR Part 33 do not provide for a longer protest window. In a recent...
View ArticleGAO To Protesters: Check Your (Spam) Email
GAO’s filing deadlines are strict, and a protest that does not abide by them generally will be dismissed. In All Native, Inc., B-411693 et al. (Oct. 5, 2015), the GAO expanded upon this rule by...
View ArticleGAO: Protest of Exclusion From Competitive Range Untimely After Award
A protester’s failure to timely file its bid protest at GAO is almost always certain to lead to the dismissal of its protest. But knowing when the clock starts running for an offeror to file its...
View ArticleEagle Eye: Government May Slip a Sole-Source Award Past an Unaware Contractor
Contractors would be wise to keep a close watch on FedBizOpps.gov, otherwise they run the risk missing the chance to protest a sole source award. When an agency decides to make an award without...
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