Category: Luke W. Meier

GAO Sharpens Its Pleading Standard Description: But Did GAO Raise the Bar?

David L. Bodner, Elizabeth N. Jochum, Stephanie M. Harden, and Luke W. Meier ●

In a recent decision, GAO announced that it was clarifying its pleading standard for bid protests. For many years, GAO had described a minimally acceptable protest pleading as one with “either allegations or evidence sufficient” to establish a likelihood of improper agency action. Going forward, as articulated in Warfighter Focused Logistics, Inc., B-423546, B-423546.2, Aug. 5, 2025, 2025 WL 2237333, the standard now calls for “credible allegations that are supported by evidence and are sufficient” to make that showing. GAO linked this revised formulation to a request from Congress in Section 885 of the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act to clarify and enhance its pleading standard. 

It is not immediately clear whether this means a change in protest practice at GAO. GAO seemed to suggest that the updated language was not a change to the pleading standard itself, but a clarification to better align the stated legal standard with its longstanding stance that “‘bare allegations’ or allegations based upon ‘information and belief’ are not sufficient to meet our pleading standards.” We will be closely watching how GAO applies the standard in its decisions to fully understand the level of evidence required to clear GAO’s pleading standard, and it is likely to remain a heavily fact-specific analysis. Regardless, protesters, as ever, should make sure they substantiate allegations with evidence and awardees should retain counsel to safeguard their interests through effective dismissal requests.

Continue reading “GAO Sharpens Its Pleading Standard Description: But Did GAO Raise the Bar?”

Blank Rome Attorneys Appointed to American Bar Association’s Public Contract Law Section Leadership for the 2025–2026 Term

We are pleased to announce that a record nine attorneys from Blank Rome’s nationally recognized Government Contracts group have been appointed to leadership roles in the American Bar Association’s (“ABA”) Public Contract Law Section for the 2025–2026 term.

Visit our website to learn more about their roles and ABA’s Section of Public Contract Law.

Blank Rome’s Government Contracts Practice and Attorneys Highly Ranked in Chambers USA 2025

Blank Rome’s Government Contracts practice was ranked in Band 2 in Government Contracts: The Elite, USA in the Chambers USA 2025 rankings, placing our team among the top 10 law firms in the nationwide rankings.

Chambers quoted a government contracts reference as saying that “The firm has specialized expertise as well as a broader perspective on the issues at play.”

Chambers USA included four of our attorneys in their 2025 Government Contracts rankings: Dominique L. Casimir, Justin A. Chiarodo, Elizabeth N. Jochum, and Luke W. Meier, with Elizabeth receiving an additional ranking for “Government Contracts: Bid Protests.”

To view all of Blank Rome’s Chambers USA 2025 rankings, please visit our website.

GAO Rejects Notion of a Pre-FPR “Continuous Registration Requirement” for SAM

Luke W. Meier and Amanda C. DeLaPerriere ●

The last week saw GAO sustain two protests that should put the nail in the SAM “continuous registration” coffin.

The Federal Acquisition Regulatory (“FAR”) Council recently revised the standard System for Award Management (“SAM”) registration clause (FAR 52.204-7) to make clear there is no “continuous registration requirement”—contractors need to be registered in SAM only at the time they submit their final, legally-binding proposal.

In two recent decisions, GAO has confirmed that the same was (and is) true under the prior version of FAR 52.204-7 as well. That is, if an agency allows an offeror to submit a revised proposal, and the offeror is properly registered in SAM when that final proposal is submitted, it does not matter if there was some SAM registration failure at an earlier stage of the procurement.  The offeror is eligible, and it would be unreasonable for an agency to eliminate an offeror or terminate an award based on a pre-FPR SAM flaw.

In UNICA-BPA JV, LLC, B-422580.3, the protester (“UNICA”) had an active SAM registration when it submitted its final revised proposal, but the Agency later eliminated UNICA from the competition based on the fact that UNICA was not registered in SAM at the time of its initial proposal. That was unreasonable, GAO found, because UNICA had in fact met the stated requirement to be registered in SAM “when submitting an offer,” as the FAR defines “offer” as a proposal that can form a binding contract, and that definition applied only to UNICA’s final, legally-binding proposal, which was compliant. GAO thus found the Agency acted unreasonably by eliminating UNICA from the competition and sustained UNICA’s protest.

In Metris LLC, B-422996.2, the Agency proposed to take corrective action to terminate the award to Metris for having a break in its SAM registration between the time of the initial proposal submission and its final proposal submission. GAO found that Metris’s initial proposal was extinguished when Metris submitted – and the Agency accepted – Metris’s final proposal revision. Because Metris was registered in SAM at the time of the final proposal revision, Metris had an active SAM registration when it submitted its offer, in accordance with FAR 52.204-7. GAO thus recommended that the agency abandon its plans to terminate Metris’s contract award, and instead “maintain its existing award to Metris.”

These cases follow the legal reasoning of Hanford Tank Disposition Alliance, LLC v. United States, 173 Fed. Cl. 269, 312-319 (2024), and should deter agencies from eliminating any more offerors over pre-FPR SAM issues.

Also published in National Law Review at GAO Confirms No Continuous SAM Registration Requirement, January 17, 2025.

Fiscal Year 2024 GAO Protest Statistics: Course Correction from Fiscal Year 2023 Shows Continued Slow Decline in GAO Protests

Luke W. Meier and Shane M. Hannon ●

The Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) released its Annual Report to Congress for Fiscal Year 2024 (B-158766), summarizing bid protest activity during the 2024 fiscal year. The FY24 bid protest statistics reflect a continuation of recent trends, and course correction after the FY23 statistics were skewed by the 100+ protests challenging the Department of Health and Human Services’ government-wide acquisition contract, the Chief Information Officer-Solutions and Partners 4 (“CIO-SP4”).

Overall, the number of protests is fairly steady, the effectiveness rate remains high (over 50 percent), and hearings are increasingly rare (just one in the last year).

Continue reading “Fiscal Year 2024 GAO Protest Statistics: Course Correction from Fiscal Year 2023 Shows Continued Slow Decline in GAO Protests”

Blank Rome Attorneys Appointed to American Bar Association’s Public Contract Law Section Leadership for the 2024–2025 Term

Blank Rome LLP is pleased to announce that eight attorneys from the firm’s nationally recognized Government Contracts group have been appointed to leadership roles in the American Bar Association’s Public Contract Law Section for the 2024–2025 term.

Visit our website to learn more about their roles and the Section of Public Contract Law.

More Cases and Expanded Data Analytics: A Closer Look at DOJ’s FY 2023 False Claims Act Statistics


Dominique L. Casimir, Luke W. Meier, and Oliver E. Jury ●


The United States Department of Justice (“DOJ”) recently announced its statistics for False Claims Act (“FCA”) FY 2023 settlements and judgments. DOJ recovered $2.68 billion in FY 2023; as usual, the majority of these recoveries (nearly 70 percent, or $1.8B) came from the healthcare industry. DOJ continues to make use of data analytics to inform its enforcement activity.

Background

Comparing year-to-year variance in the volume of DOJ’s FCA recoveries provides only marginal utility. More telling is the rapid expansion of the non-qui tam matters opened during the past two years. In FY 2022, DOJ opened 305 non-qui tam matters, representing approximately 186 percent of its prior ten-year average (164). In FY 2023, this increase continued, with DOJ opening 500 non-qui tam matters—305 percent of the ten-year average over FY 12–21.

Continue reading “More Cases and Expanded Data Analytics: A Closer Look at DOJ’s FY 2023 False Claims Act Statistics”

FY2023 GAO Protest Statistics: Dramatic Increase in Sustain Rate Is Illusory, but Increase in Overall Filings Is Real

Luke W. Meier and Carolyn R. Cody-Jones ●

The Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) has released its Annual Report to Congress summarizing bid protest activity for Fiscal Year 2023 (GAO-24-900538). Although there is a seemingly drastic increase in the number of protests sustained, the real trend worth noting is an uptick in protests filed at GAO—reversing a recent trend that had seen GAO protest numbers falling.

With the full context in hand, the FY 2023 GAO protest data mostly show a steady continuation of recent trends: the number of sustains and sustain rate remains largely the same as FY 2022, “effectiveness” remains high and stable (57 percent), and the hearing rate remains low at two percent (22 for the year). The meaningful increase in cases filed at GAO shows that protesters still view GAO as a valuable protest forum, even as an increasing number of protesters opt for the more fulsome document production and (at times) less deferential analysis they expect at the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.

Continue reading “FY2023 GAO Protest Statistics: Dramatic Increase in Sustain Rate Is Illusory, but Increase in Overall Filings Is Real”

Blank Rome Attorneys Appointed to American Bar Association’s Public Contract Law Section Leadership for the 2023–2024 Term

Blank Rome LLP is pleased to announce that nine attorneys from the firm’s nationally recognized Government Contracts group have been appointed to leadership roles in the American Bar Association’s (“ABA”) Public Contract Law Section for the 2023–2024 term, marking the highest number of ABA Public Contract Law Section leadership positions held by our attorneys in the firm’s history.

Visit our website to learn more about their roles and the Section of Public Contract Law.

The Once and Future King: SCOTUS Maintains the Government May Intervene in Previously Declined FCA Matters to Seek Dismissal

Luke W. Meier and Carolyn R. Cody-Jones ●

Last Friday, June 16, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court (“SCOTUS”) ruled that the federal government may seek to dismiss a qui tam False Claims Act (“FCA”) suit over the relator’s objection, even where it previously declined to intervene in the case and the relator invested in moving the case forward. The 8-1 decision by the high Court firmly established the broad authority for the government to intervene in such circumstances under a Rule 41(a) “reasonableness” standard, explaining that the key reason for this is that “the government’s interest in [an FCA] suit … is the predominant one” based on the “FCA’s government-centered purposes.” United States Ex Rel. Polansky v. Executive Health Resources, Inc., Slip. Op. No. 21–1052, at 12, 599 U.S. ____ (2023).

When an FCA suit is filed, the government has 60 days (which is typically extended) under the FCA statute to decide whether to decline or intervene in the case. See 31 U.S.C. § 3730. If declined, the relator may proceed with the litigation without the government’s support. The statute also allows the government to intervene “at a later date upon a showing of good cause.” § 3730(c)(3). As of 2022, publicly available statistics show that the government has elected to intervene only in about 40 percent of all qui tam FCA matters subject to judgment or settlement.

Continue reading “The Once and Future King: SCOTUS Maintains the Government May Intervene in Previously Declined FCA Matters to Seek Dismissal”
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