Government Contracts Insights

October 25, 2017 - Protests & Litigation
Unstated Evaluation Criteria And Waived Solicitation Requirements (Bid Protest Primer #10)
By: James A. Tucker
This week we’ll discuss two protest arguments that are, in some ways, two sides of the same coin: unstated evaluation criteria and waived or relaxed solicitation requirements. In each, the focus of the protest is on what was required (or not required) by the
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September 29, 2017 - Protests & Litigation
Latent Ambiguities and Non-Apparent Solicitation Defects (Post-Award Protest Primer #9)
By: James A. Tucker
Having discussed protest grounds you cannot or should not raise ( here and here ), we turn now to the first in a series of grounds that could result in a sustained protest: Latent Ambiguities and Non-Apparent Solicitation Defects. We’ve previously noted the rule
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September 15, 2017 - Protests & Litigation
Substantively Non-Protestable Issues (Post-Award Protest Primer #8)
By: James A. Tucker
In our last post, we discussed a few procedural rules that can exclude an otherwise meritorious ground from protest. There are also a number of substantive issues that the GAO’s rules exclude from review. See 4 C.F.R. § 21.5. We address them below, plus a
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September 06, 2017 - Protests & Litigation, Compliance
Winning the Corrective Action, and Using Clarifications Instead of Discussions
By: J. Alex Ward and James A. Tucker
In a recent Protest Roundup , we discussed Dell Federal Systems, LP v. United States , 2017 WL 2981811 (Fed. Cl. July 3, 2017), a case in which a contractor successfully challenged the scope of the voluntary corrective action an agency took in response
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August 31, 2017 - Protests & Litigation
Procedurally Non-Protestable Issues (Post-Award Protest Primer #7)
By: James A. Tucker
Before diving into the various protest grounds that may result in a sustained protest at the GAO, let’s look at some sure losers. These are issues that are not protestable and would likely result in a quick dismissal. This week, we’ll discuss procedurally defective protests. Our next
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August 16, 2017 - Protests & Litigation
Stays of Contract Award and Performance (Post-Award Protest Primer #6)
By: James A. Tucker
Today we’ll discuss stays of award and performance during the pendency of a bid protest. There are two kinds of protest stays: pre-award stays and post-award stays. Although the former are outside the scope of this primer, we’ll briefly address them first for the
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August 07, 2017 - Protests & Litigation
GAO Protective Orders (Post-Award Protest Primer #5)
By: James A. Tucker
Post-award protests generally involve arguments about confidential, source-selection sensitive information – proprietary bid and proposal material, past performance data, cost and pricing information, nonpublic agency estimates, and the judgments of agency evaluators and source selection personnel. Neither the government nor the competitors want that
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July 20, 2017 - Protests & Litigation
Bid Protest Remedies (Post-Award Protest Primer #4)
By: James A. Tucker
We’ve discussed debriefings and the timelines and timeliness rules that apply to post-award protests. Today we’ll discuss remedies. If you file a protest to challenge a contract award and you win the protest, that means you win the contract, right? Well, certainly not immediately.
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July 13, 2017 - Protests & Litigation
Timeliness and Timelines (Post-Award Protest Primer #3)
By: James A. Tucker
Now that we’ve discussed the award letter and debriefings , we’ll move on to next steps: timeliness of initial protest filings and the protest timeline. In the context of all post-award debriefings, there are two timeliness considerations: First, meeting the GAO’s timeliness requirements and, second, whether
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July 06, 2017 - Protests & Litigation
Debriefings (Post-Award Protest Primer #2)
By: James A. Tucker
You just received an email: “We appreciate your interest in the XYZ procurement. The Agency determined that your proposal did not represent the best value to the Government. Award has been made to Acme Corp. at a price of $50,000,000.” After kicking your trashcan
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Topic Archives: Protests & Litigation

Unstated Evaluation Criteria And Waived Solicitation Requirements (Bid Protest Primer #10)

By: James A. Tucker

Latent Ambiguities and Non-Apparent Solicitation Defects (Post-Award Protest Primer #9)

By: James A. Tucker

Substantively Non-Protestable Issues (Post-Award Protest Primer #8)

By: James A. Tucker

Winning the Corrective Action, and Using Clarifications Instead of Discussions

By: J. Alex Ward and James A. Tucker

Procedurally Non-Protestable Issues (Post-Award Protest Primer #7)

By: James A. Tucker

Stays of Contract Award and Performance (Post-Award Protest Primer #6)

By: James A. Tucker

GAO Protective Orders (Post-Award Protest Primer #5)

By: James A. Tucker

Bid Protest Remedies (Post-Award Protest Primer #4)

By: James A. Tucker

Timeliness and Timelines (Post-Award Protest Primer #3)

By: James A. Tucker

Debriefings (Post-Award Protest Primer #2)

By: James A. Tucker