Procurement Playbook

This is the first in a series of posts highlighting common mistakes made (by protestors) in bid protests at GAO.  Today’s post discusses a mistake related to the deadline for filing supplemental protests when an extension is granted for filing comments on the agency report.  This mistake is made by protestors far more often than it should be, Read More…

One might assume that if the top two proposals in a best-value procurement receive the same ratings on all non-price factors, the proposals are obviously equal in technical merit and the award must go to the lower priced proposal.  However, this assumption would be incorrect.  And, Read More…

Debarment is not just for ethics violations anymore. Suspending and Debarring Officials are looking to a new source for referrals – Contracting Officers. FAR 9.406-2(b)(1)(i)(A) and FAR 9.406-2(b)(1)(i)(B) allow Suspending and Debarring Officials to debar companies for a history of performance issues or a willful failure to perform in accordance with the terms of one or more contracts. Read More…

The American public generally agrees that the federal government’s contracting response is far from efficient. ‘Why did it take so long to get help for Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy and/or the Joplin Missouri Tornado take so long?’ is a commonly asked question. So, while the memories of the Oso, Read More…

One of the most fundamental requirements of Small Business Administration’s (SBA) size protest regulations is that the protested firm must timely produce information/documents that SBA requests to perform its investigation of the firm’s size/status. What is the penalty for failing to provide requested information/documents?  Read More…

In a recent bid protest decision concerning the Department of Energy’s award of legacy management support services award contract, GAO held that the agency acted reasonably when evaluating protestor WSS’s past performance on the incumbent contract by disregarding two Contractor Performance Assessment Reports (“CPARs”), Read More…

Section 1614 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014 (NDAA) offers advantages to small business subcontractors as well as prime contractors, by allowing primes to count second tier small businesses subcontracts toward their small business subcontracting goals. Previously, primes could only count first tier small business subcontractors for their small business subcontracting plans. Read More…

Size matters. Companies that exceed applicable SBA size standards are ineligible for award of small business set-aside contracts. The SBA uses rules of affiliation to make sure companies do not take unfair advantage of the benefits of small business contracting programs. When measuring whether a company comes within the applicable size standard, Read More…

Back in December 2013, GAO issued a protest decision involving a battle between the two private space contractors, Blue Origin and SpaceX, to lease Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A – where the majority of Apollo and Space Shuttle missions were launched – from NASA.  Read More…

On October 25, 2013, the U.S. General Services Administration (“GSA”) concluded that federal agencies should continue to use third party rating systems to evaluate the performance of federal buildings. Specifically, GSA advocated that agencies use U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) LEED green building rating system or the Green Globes system to advance energy efficiency and to save taxpayers’ money. Read More…