Government Contracts Insights

January 31, 2018 - Federal Procurement, Protests & Litigation
Rare Federal Circuit Protest Decision Affirms Agency Discretion in Sole Source Context
By: J. Alex Ward
Last week, the Federal Circuit issued a rare opinion on a bid protest in Agustawestland North America, Inc. v. United States. Bid protest decisions by the Court of Federal Claims are seldom appealed by protesters because the ability to get a meaningful remedy quickly
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January 11, 2018 - Federal Procurement, Protests & Litigation, Defense
DOD Protest Reform: Initial Thoughts on the Congressionally-Mandated RAND Report
By: James A. Tucker
The RAND Corporation’s much-awaited report assessing bid protests of Department of Defense (DOD) procurements is out. The report fulfills a Congressional mandate in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for FY 2017 to analyze a variety of issues relating to protests of DOD acquisitions. The
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January 04, 2018 - Protests & Litigation
Organizational Conflicts of Interest (Post-Award Protest Primer #13)
By: James A. Tucker
Today we’ll consider Organizational Conflicts of Interest (OCIs) as a ground of protest. The Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) defines an OCI as a situation where “because of other activities or relationships with other persons, a person is unable or potentially unable to render impartial assistance
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December 05, 2017 - Protests & Litigation
Discussions Vs. Clarifications Vs. Communications, and Agency Discretion (Post-award Protest Primer #12)
By: James A. Tucker
In our last post, we looked at the most common protest grounds related to discussions: lack of meaningful discussions, misleading discussions, and unequal discussions. Today we’ll discuss how discussions differ from clarifications and pre-competitive range communications, as well as the Government’s discretion to conduct
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November 13, 2017 - Protests & Litigation
Non-meaningful, Misleading, and Unequal Discussions (Post-award Protest Primer #11)
By: James A. Tucker
Today’s post is the first of two installments on protest grounds related to discussions. This post will focus on the requirement that discussions be meaningful and not misleading, and treat offerors equally. The next post will look at the difference between discussions and other types of
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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 to
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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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Topic Archives: Protests & Litigation

Rare Federal Circuit Protest Decision Affirms Agency Discretion in Sole Source Context

By: J. Alex Ward

DOD Protest Reform: Initial Thoughts on the Congressionally-Mandated RAND Report

By: James A. Tucker

Organizational Conflicts of Interest (Post-Award Protest Primer #13)

By: James A. Tucker

Discussions Vs. Clarifications Vs. Communications, and Agency Discretion (Post-award Protest Primer #12)

By: James A. Tucker

Non-meaningful, Misleading, and Unequal Discussions (Post-award Protest Primer #11)

By: James A. Tucker

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