Bid Protester Wins Protest Where the Agency Improperly Awards Contract to Company with an “Organizational Conflict of Interest”
The Department of Defense Unites States Special Operations Command (“USSOCOM”) awarded their Information Technology Service Management (“ITSM”) contract to Jacobs Technology, Inc. instead of IBM. IBM complained that Jacobs had an “organizational conflict of interest” since it had been the...
Federal Court Slams Down Army for Following Informal Advice of GAO Lawyer on Corrective Actions in a Bid Protest
When the Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) recommends that a government agency take “corrective action” in procurement by making changes to its selection criteria or process, the Court of Federal Claims will routinely adjudicate challenges to the proposed corrective action. But,...
Appellate Court Slams Down Army Corps of Engineers for Following a GAO Recommendation
Often in the government contract law world, following a recommendation by the United States Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) in a winning bid protest is wise and bulletproof. However, in Turner Construction Co. v. United States, 2011 U.S. App. LEXIS 14370 (2011), the...
Who is a “Non-Responsible” Bidder? Who is a “Non-Responsive” Bidder?
A disappointed government contractor lost its bid protest, and the Court of Federal Claims explained the law on responsibility and responsiveness in offers to requests for proposals (“RFP”). The case is Nilson Van & Storage, Inc. v. United States, 2011 U.S....
Bid Protest Successful Where Agency Failed to Document “Best-Value Tradeoff Analysis”
A government contractor wins its post-award protest where the agency failed to adequately document its “best value” analysis. This is the latest of a string of recent successful bid protests wherein the government loses on the basis of poor documentation. ...
Contractor Wins Bid Protest by Arguing that “Class Waiver” of Customary Commercial Practices was Irrationally Applied
Two large food distributors interested in competing for a $9.3 million contract to supply food to military and civilian customers in Texas and New Mexico win their pre-award bid protest against the Army’s Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support. They successfully argued...
Solicitations Cannot Have Terms Contrary to Those Used in Customary Commercial Practices
In this pre-award bid protest, the General Service Administration (“GAO”) sought offers from contractors to provide various federal agencies with web-based travel management services. One contractor, CW Government Travel, Inc. (“CW”) protested the solicitation because it required the contractors to...
Contract Awarded to Company for More than Twice the Price of a Competitor is Still “Best Value”
In this post-award bid protest case, a task order from the Department of Labor seeking quotations for the maintenance and operation of its Integrated Management Information System drew three contractors. The winner, Microtechnologies, LLC, bid almost $40 million. A rival,...
Agency’s Use of Independent Government Cost Estimate (IGCE) was Rational
In this post-award bid protest case, a contractor who offered the government a very low price on a government contract failed to win the award. It complained that the Agency improperly used an inadequate Independent Government Cost Estimate (“ICGE”) to...