Every federal contractor knows how difficult it is to win a government contract. Indeed, contractors often start pursuing larger contracts or vehicles well over a year before the solicitation is even published. And, while each contractor’s business development and capture strategies vary, they typically share two characteristics: copious amounts of time and money. Given the...
Yesterday, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) published its Bid Protest Annual Report to Congress for Fiscal Year 2022. GAO’s annual report is required under the Competition in Contracting Act of 1984 (“CICA”) and provides the government contracting community with good insight into GAO’s bid protest function. [1] Despite being just four pages (excluding GAO’s...
A Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) bid protest decision highlights an important aspect of “best value” in government contracting: a proper tradeoff decision must provide a rational explanation as to why a superior technical proposal warrants paying a higher price. The protest of Alpha Omega Integration, LLC, B-419812; B-419812.2, August 10, 2021, 2021 CPD ¶ 302...
In August, the Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) provided a boost for small business joint ventures (“JV”) that are pursuing defense contracts in holding that the plain language of the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (“NDAA”) prohibits the Department of Defense (“DoD”) “from issuing solicitations that require a joint venture, rather than the members of the...
A recent Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) bid protest decision provides a reminder of when an agency may conduct a price realism analysis in fixed-price contracts. So, the next time you want to challenge a competitor’s low price, remember that agencies are neither required nor permitted to conduct a price realism analysis in a fixed-price procurement...