GAO sustained ECS' protest of an Army Corps of Engineers RFQ on February 18, 2026 (B-423993, B-423993.2). The Corps had issued ten amendments to a FAR Part 13 simplified-acquisition RFQ for replacement appliances at multiple Navy installations — many of them over weekends, with response windows ranging from one hour to overnight. Coverage from Government Contracts Law.
What went wrong
The Corps issued the original RFQ on July 28, 2025 seeking the lowest-price technically acceptable solution. Amendment 0007 added refrigerator specs with tight deadlines. Amendments 0008–0010 went out late Friday evenings, Saturdays, and a Sunday — requiring revised quotes within a single hour in some cases.
GAO's remedy
- Amend the solicitation to provide vendors a reasonable response opportunity
- Evaluate revised quotations
- Make a new award decision
- Reimburse the protester for protest costs and reasonable attorneys' fees
What this means for COs
- "Simplified acquisition" doesn't suspend the reasonableness requirement
- Weekend amendments with sub-day response windows are now formally a sustainable protest ground
- Document why a tight window is necessary — bare-record CONOPS won't survive GAO scrutiny