Dec 10, 2010

Thomas Marcinko

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Number of Protests Reach 15 Year High

Will your firm have to resort to bid protests in order to survive the anticipated reduction in Government spending and contracting?  Many of your competitors have apparently answered this question in the affirmative.  Despite the previously accepted notion that protesting awards often resulted in more long term damge to customer relations than short term advantage to the bottom line, protests are up again this year.  According to the General Accountability Office, (GAO)  2,299 protests were filed in fiscal year 2010.  This represents a 16% increase over last year and is the most protests filed since fiscal year 1995.

Only 441 cases were actually decided by GAO of which 82 or 19% were decided in favor of the protester.  However, this statistic is deceptive becuase many protests were withdrawn after the protester and the agency reach agreement.  When  agency action is taken into account, 42% of the protesters received some relief.

The best way a winning bidders can help the Government defend a protest is to ensure that their behavior is squeaky clean and that the proposal is 100% compliant with the RFP.  Losing bidders who may be interested in protesting should request a debriefing a timely manner.  For your information, the rules for protests are contained in FAR Part 33 and 4 CFR Part 21.