Public Contracting Institute Blog

By Richard D. Lieberman, Consultant The Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) bid protest rules have tight deadlines for submitting timely protests.  These rules also state that that a matter initially protested to the contracting agency will be considered by the...

By Richard D. Lieberman, Consultant This blog has frequently explained that options in a government contract are exercisable at the government’s discretion, and there is nothing a contractor can do to “force” the government to exercise an option it does not need or...

By Richard D. Lieberman, Consultant Although the Federal Acquisition Regulation (“FAR”) requires that bidders be registered in the government’s System for Award Management (“SAM”) at the time of bid submission, the Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) has clearly...

By Richard D. Lieberman, Consultant Recently, in Cellebrite Inc., B-430371.2, April 28, 2022, the Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) discussed limitations on the scope of Final Proposal Revisions (“FPRs”) as part of an agency corrective action.  The GAO...

The Federal Circuit recently considered the “request requirement,” which is a contractor’s request for a final decision by the Contracting Officer (“CO”) on its claim.  Zafer Const. Co., AKA Zafer Taahhut Insaat ve Ticaret A.S. v. United States, No. 2021-1547 (Fed....

DON’T RELY ON COMPUTER-GENERATED DELIVERY CONFIRMATIONS OF YOUR PROPOSAL This blog has discussed computer-generated confirmations of agency receipt of your proposal, and urged contractors to obtain a “human-generated” confirmation.  In Firebird Analytical Sols and...

When an agency agrees to take corrective action in response to a protest, and re-evaluates offerors, does this constitute discussions?  The Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) gives a definitive “no” unless certain conditions are met.  Quality Technology, Inc. ...

A recent dispute involving three separate claims resulted in the Court of Federal Claims noting that “[w]hereas clauses are not contractual; they are recitations laying out the background understandings of the parties.”  THR Enterprises, Inc., v. United States, No....

Meaningful resolution of any bid protest, whether at the Court of Federal Claims or the Government Accountability Office (“GAO”), is always dependent on the procurement agency’s production of an adequate record.  Seaward Services, Inc., B-420580, June 12, 2022 is an...

The fifth amendment to the U.S. Constitution states that “[no person] shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself…”  The Supreme Court has stated that “the rule against drawing adverse inferences from a defendant’s silence in criminal...