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Agencies Abuse Sole-Source Process

Client Alert | less than 1 min read | 02.20.13

On the heels of the CFC in Innovation Dev. Enters. of Am., Inc. v. U.S. (Jan. 29, 2013) finding that the Air Force had done zero advance planning before improperly justifying retention of the multiyear incumbent on a sole-source basis, the GAO issued its study faulting DOD more generally. In reviewing eight large sole-source awards, GAO found that DOD in six of them had failed to adhere to the recently tightened FAR requirements for sole-source buys.


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Client Alert | 3 min read | 07.10.26

Federal Circuit Clarifies Application of Blue & Gold: Proposal Submission Deadline, Not Award, is the Operative Time for Filing

In Utech, Inc. v. United States, No. 24-1586 (Fed. Cir. June 24, 2026), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit clarified that in most cases, a pre-award protest must be filed before the proposal submission deadline to avoid the Blue & Gold waiver rule.  This decision, while nonprecedential, is in line with U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) precedent, which has long held that pre-award protests must be filed before the proposal submission deadline....