Tag: Government Accountability Office

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”

Government Offerors—There Are No Foolish Questions

Merle M. DeLancey, Jr. ●

The Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) regularly denies protests because an offeror made assumptions in its proposal. To the offeror, such assumptions seem perfectly reasonable but to an agency the assumptions are incorrect or contrary to the agency’s intended procurement approach. As a result, the offeror’s proposal is rejected as non-compliant.

If the offeror files a GAO protest, GAO will likely dismiss the protest as being untimely, stating that the offeror was required to challenge a solicitation’s terms and conditions prior to the deadline for the submission of proposals. This scenario is frustrating because it likely could have been avoided had the offeror simply asked the agency questions.

Frequently, clients ask us to opine on what information an agency is seeking in a solicitation or how to interpret a term in a solicitation. These questions are often asked shortly before an offer is due. While we do our best, our guidance is not a substitute for agency guidance. We appreciate offerors are busy. Most prepare proposals based on due dates. As a result, by the time an offeror begins to prepare its proposal, the solicitation’s Q&A period is over.

Continue reading “Government Offerors—There Are No Foolish Questions”

FY 2022 Sees Number of Protests Fall, Solicitation Challenges Join the List of Most Likely Protest Grounds to Be Sustained

Luke W. Meier and Elizabeth N. Jochum ●

The Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) has released its Annual Report to Congress summarizing bid protest activity for Fiscal Year 2022 (GAO-23-900462). The report mostly shows a continuation of recent trends: the overall number of GAO protests continues to drop, “effectiveness” remains high and stable (51 percent), and there are very few hearings (two for the year). Of note, preaward solicitation challenges were one of the most successful types of protest at GAO, for the first time ever since GAO began reporting the bases for successful protests in 2013. Below we break down what contractors can glean from this latest report.

Overall numbers down

The total number of protests filed at GAO continues to fall. The chart below shows the number of protest actions reported by GAO over the last several years.

Continue reading “FY 2022 Sees Number of Protests Fall, Solicitation Challenges Join the List of Most Likely Protest Grounds to Be Sustained“

Cost Realism: Frequently Asked Questions

David L. Bodner ●

Understanding the basics of cost realism can help offerors submit more competitive proposals and withstand cost realism challenges to award. The Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) cites cost realism as one of its “most prevalent reasons for sustaining protests” in its Fiscal Year 2021 Bid Protest Report.

What is a cost realism analysis?

A cost realism analysis is a FAR 15.404-1(d)(1)-prescribed proposal analysis technique where the agency determines if the proposed costs are realistic for the work to be performed. In a cost reimbursement contract, an offeror’s proposed costs are not controlling because agencies are responsible for all actual and allowable costs. A cost realism analysis determines if an offeror is proposing unrealistically low costs to secure award. An agency cost realism analysis evaluates each offeror’s proposed cost elements (e.g., direct costs, overhead, G&A, material and subcontracting, etc.) for the unique technical approach proposed to determine the expected cost of performance. If the agency determines a proposed cost element is unrealistic, the agency can adjust the offeror’s evaluated cost, typically upward. The agency uses each offeror’s evaluated cost to select the best value awardee. However, the contract award reflects the awardee’s proposed total cost.

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Court of Federal Claims Declines to Adopt GAO’s Rule for Post-Proposal Key Personnel Changes

Elizabeth N. Jochum and Robyn N. Burrows

For years, the Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) has been moving towards an increasingly draconian position on offerors’ obligations to notify agencies when the availability of proposed personnel changes after proposal submission. A recent decision by the Court of Federal Claims (“COFC”) in Golden IT, LLC v. United States expressly addressing and departing from the GAO precedent may give hope to offerors struggling with GAO’s requirement.

Golden IT, LLC (“Golden”) protested the Department of Commerce’s award of a single blanket purchase agreement to Spatial Front, Inc. (“SFI”). Among its many protest grounds, Golden claimed that SFI’s quote contained a material misrepresentation regarding key personnel because it proposed an employee who had allegedly left SFI after it submitted its bid and before receiving award. Golden claimed that SFI was obligated to notify the agency of the individual’s unavailability after submitting its proposal.

Continue reading “Court of Federal Claims Declines to Adopt GAO’s Rule for Post-Proposal Key Personnel Changes”

GAO Report Suggests DOE Should Identify More Instances of Contractor Fraud

Luke W. Meier and Robyn N. Burrows

Last week, the Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) issued a report on Department of Energy (“DOE”) contracting, Improvements Needed to Ensure DOE Assesses Its Full Range of Contracting Fraud Risks. The thrust of the report is that DOE should do more to prevent and detect fraud, particularly in less-examined areas such as bid-rigging, misrepresentation of eligibility, kickbacks and gratuities, and conflicts of interest.

DOE relies on contractors to carry out its missions at laboratories and other facilities, spending approximately 80 percent of its $41 billion in total obligations on contracts. In March 2017, GAO reviewed DOE’s approach to managing its risk of fraud and found DOE did not use leading practices, resulting in missed opportunities to mitigate the likelihood and impact of fraud.

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Majority of FY 2020 Protests Find Some Success at GAO

Luke W. Meier and Scott Arnold

The Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) has released its Annual Report to Congress summarizing bid protest activity for Fiscal Year 2020 (GAO-21-281SP). The report shows that, in a unique year where COVID-19 altered procurement practices and priorities, protest activity at GAO was remarkably stable. Of note, GAO’s “effectiveness rate” this year topped 50 percent, meaning most protests resulted in some form of relief. The number of task order protests continues to increase, despite a modest dip in overall protests. Unsurprisingly, again there were very few hearings.

The chart below summarizes the GAO protest statistics from FY 2015 to FY 2020.

Here are four key takeaways from the latest report.

Continue reading “Majority of FY 2020 Protests Find Some Success at GAO”

GAO Signals More Demanding Approach to Corrective Action Dismissals

Luke W. Meier

About a third of U.S. Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) protests end because an agency decides to take voluntary corrective action. (This is evidenced by the ~30 percent difference between GAO’s “Sustain” rate and “Effectiveness” rate.) While it is considered a “win,” voluntary corrective action can be frustrating for protesters who may have no assurance their concerns will truly be addressed. Agencies often say little about what the corrective action will entail. When they do discuss specific steps to be taken, agencies often list various actions they may or may not take, depending on further assessment as the corrective action unfolds. Historically, GAO has largely brushed aside complaints about these uncertainties. When an agency announces its intent to take corrective action, the perfunctory next step has been a quick dismissal of the protest.

In a recent decision, however, GAO signaled a willingness to demand more from agencies seeking a dismissal based on corrective action. Continue reading “GAO Signals More Demanding Approach to Corrective Action Dismissals”

Still Effective: Four Takeaways from the FY 2019 GAO Protest Statistics

Luke W. Meier and Albert B. Krachman

The Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) has released its Annual Report to Congress summarizing bid protest activity for Fiscal Year 2019 (B-158766). The report shows that the number of protests has fallen, the effectiveness rate has remained high and remarkably stable, and hearings have made a bit of a comeback.

The chart below summarizes the GAO protest statistics from FY 2014 to FY 2019.

Here are four key takeaways from the latest report. Continue reading “Still Effective: Four Takeaways from the FY 2019 GAO Protest Statistics”

Evaluations That Prompt Corrective Action Must Be Documented

Michael J. Slattery

We discussed in a previous blog post how the current state of the law at the U.S Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) and within the Federal Circuit limits offerors’ ability to effectively challenge agency corrective action. See Is There No Balm in Gilead? The Federal Circuit’s Decision in Dell Federal Systems L.P. v. United States Reinforces Contractors’ Dwindling Options to Effectively Challenge Agency Corrective Action. Specifically, we demonstrated that GAO has adopted a highly deferential, “hands off” position with regard to agency corrective action, holding that “the details of a corrective action are within the sound discretion and judgment of the contracting agency.” Northrop Grumman Tech. Servs., Inc., B-404636.11, June 15, 2011, 2011 CPD ¶ 121 at 3. Under governing GAO case law, agencies have discretion to decide the scope of corrective action, including whether discussions will be held, the breadth of such discussions, which offerors shall be included in the corrective action, and the scope of permitted revisions to proposals. Deloitte Consulting, LLP, B-412125.6, Nov. 28, 2016, 2016 U.S. Comp. Gen. LEXIS 348 at *1, *11 (citing Computer Assocs. Int’l., B-292077.2, Sept. 4, 2003, 2003 CPD ¶ 157 at 5). Indeed, GAO will not disturb an agency’s proposed corrective action so long as the corrective action is deemed reasonable—that is, so long as the corrective action is “appropriate to remedy the flaw which the agency believes exists in its procurement process.” Onésimus Def., LLC, B-41123.3, B-41123.4, July 24, 2015, 2015 CPD ¶ 224 at 5. Continue reading “Evaluations That Prompt Corrective Action Must Be Documented”