Recently, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued two advisory opinions relating to protests currently before the U.S. Court of Federal Claims (COFC).  See AECOM Mgmt. Servs., Inc.–Advisory Opinion, B-417506.12, Sept. 18, 2019; see also PAE-Parsons Global Logistics Servs., LLC–Advisory Opinion, B-417506.13, Oct. 18, 2019.  The decisions themselves do not involve unique issues, but their procedural postures are noteworthy because the GAO does not often issue advisory opinions. What is a GAO “Advisory Opinion?”…

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently issued to Congress its annual bid protest report for Fiscal Year (FY) 2019. As discussed below, this year’s report is particularly noteworthy for multiple reasons, including that it shows that protesters continue to receive some form of relief in nearly half of the protests filed with GAO and reports on the effect of the most recent government shutdown. First, what is GAO’s Bid Protest Annual Report to Congress?…

President Trump signed an Executive Order on October 31, 2019, revoking “Executive Order 13495 of January 30, 2009 (Nondisplacement of Qualified Workers Under Service Contracts), which requires that successor Federal contractors in certain circumstances offer a right of first refusal of employment to employees employed under the predecessor contract . . . .” The new Executive Order—titled “Executive Order on Improving Federal Contractor Operations by Revoking Executive Order 13495”—further states: The Secretary of Labor (Secretary),…

The Government Accountability Office (GAO), in TeamWendy, LLC, B-417700.2 (Oct. 16, 2019), recently clarified the scope of its authority to review bid protests involving the addition of products or services to the AbilityOne procurement list. As this author discussed in a recent Law360 article, the GAO’s decision in this case provides important guidance to protesters, intervenors, and procuring agencies alike. What is the AbilityOne program? In 1938, Congress created a program pursuant to…

This post is a continuation of the 10 most horrible, terrible, no good, “bang your head against the door” mistakes that I have seen lawyers make before, during and after mediations in which I was the mediator. As stated in previous posts, it takes more than throwing together a mediation statement at the last second and showing up at the mediation. Doing it right requires the same kind of due diligence and work that goes…

The Department of Defense (DOD) recently promulgated a final rule limiting the DOD’s ability to use the Lowest Price Technically Acceptable (LPTA) method of procurement. The final rule — which took effect on October 1, 2019, and applies only to DOD procurements — is codified at section 215.101-2-70 of the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS). What is LPTA? The LPTA method is a competitive negotiation source selection process where the non-price factors of a…

On October 1, 2019, the General Services Administration (GSA) issued its much-anticipated consolidated schedule solicitation, merging 24 multiple award schedules (MAS) into a single schedule for products, services and solutions. (See GSA announcement.) Under MAS (also commonly referred to as Federal Supply Schedules and the GSA Schedules), the GSA “establishes long-term, governmentwide contracts with commercial firms offering more than 10 million commercial supplies and services that federal, state and local agencies order directly from…