Protests
GAO and Court of Federal Claims bid protest decisions, and what they mean for bidders.
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Protests
GAO sustains ECS protest after Army Corps issued 10 RFQ amendments with 1-hour response windows
Effective Communication Strategies, LLC v. Army Corps (B-423993, B-423993.2, Feb. 18, 2026). Corps issued 10 amendments — including microwave/dehumidifier/refrigerator specs — over weekends with 60-minute response windows. GAO ordered re-solicit and protest-cost reimbursement.
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Protests
GAO: failure to acknowledge IFB amendment is fatal — even when the price impact is 1%
Morrish-Wallace Construction (Ryba Marine) succeeded in protesting the Corps' second-low award after E.C. Korneffel failed to acknowledge a third amendment specifying larger steel pile-cap requirements. B-423796.2, decision published April 13, 2026.
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Protests
Court of Federal Claims clears VA's $60.7B T4NG2 IT vehicle — Judge Silfen rules forfeiture defense controls
April 3, 2026 ruling allows VA's 10-year, $60.7B Transformation Twenty-One Total Technology Next Generation 2 to proceed. 31 protests filed; Taurian, Technatomy, and Peregrine were added before the ruling.
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Protests
GAO: oral-presentation recordings sink DIA's $815M GDIT task order — Amentum, SOSi protests sustained
B-423898 et al. (Jan. 27, 2026) — DIA's $814.9M CENTCOM JIOC task order to GDIT vacated. Recordings showed SOSi never said what DIA penalized it for; GAO found unequal scoring favoring GDIT over Amentum.
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Protests
GAO publishes FY25 'Bid Protests: Key Features and Trends' report — 2026 baseline for protest strategy
GAO's bid-protest landscape report covers FY25 filings, sustain rates, and effectiveness. Required reading for anyone planning FY26 protest activity given Section 875 NDAA changes and the Federal Circuit's CICA-stay decision.
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Protests
Supreme Court Ends Percipient.ai's Bid Protest Standing Fight Over NGA's CACI Award
The Supreme Court declined on Jan. 13, 2026 to hear Percipient.ai's appeal over standing to protest NGA's CACI data-management award, closing the case. Replaces the article's original invented premise (a fabricated GAO protest against a Palantir award) with the real, verified case and outcome — including that Palantir actually backs Percipient's legal position, not opposes it.
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Protests
GAO sustains DHS EAGLE II protest — agency failed to document OCI mitigation for awardee's consulting role
The Government Accountability Office has sustained a protest challenging a DHS EAGLE II task order award, finding the agency failed to conduct a meaningful organizational conflict of interest review after the awardee's consulting subsidiary had assisted in writing the task order's performance work statement.
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Protests
SBA OHA ostensible subcontractor rule — VSBC-459-P clarifies when compliance is judged
January 15, 2026 OHA decision (VSBC-459-P) clarified that compliance with the ostensible-subcontractor rule and JV agreement requirements is determined as of the date of final proposal revision — not initial offer. Big implications for negotiated procurements.
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Protests
NITAAC kills CIO-SP4 — the $50B GWAC dies after 350 protests
After nearly five years of delays, corrective actions, and 350+ protests, NITAAC formally canceled the $50B CIO-SP4 Government-Wide Acquisition Contract in January 2026. CIO-SP3 extended to April 2027, moving to GSA.
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Protests
GAO sustains Amentum and SOSi protests of DIA award to GDIT — the evaluation-documentation lesson
GAO's January 2026 sustain of Amentum and SOSi's protests of a Defense Intelligence Agency contract award to GDIT centered on evaluation documentation failures. The decision reinforces that agencies must both explain why proposals got credit and avoid downgrading offerors for claims the proposals didn't make.
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Protests
GAO sustained 14% of merit decisions in FY25 — where bid protests are actually winning
The GAO Annual Report to Congress for FY2025 shows a 14% sustain rate on merit decisions, with three evaluation categories accounting for the bulk of wins. A practical guide to where protests succeed and where they don't.
