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Agency Failure to Consider Proposal Differences Invalidates Award

Client Alert | less than 1 min read | 07.06.11

In One Largo Metro LLC (June 20, 2011), GAO sustained three protests to a best value procurement for office space for HHS when GSA evaluated one of the technical subfactors in a manner inconsistent with the solicitation and failed to consider meaningfully the evaluated differences in the proposals. Regarding the latter protest ground, the source selection official, by disregarding the recommendations of the lower-level evaluators without explanation, did not conduct a well documented, meaningful consideration of the identified technical differences between the proposals and instead based her decision on a mechanical comparison of the subfactor ratings assigned by the lower-level evaluators.

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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  This decision, while nonprecedential, is in line with U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) precedent, which has long held that pre-award protests must be filed before the proposal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....