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Air Force Award Downed by Inadequate OCI Assessment

Client Alert | less than 1 min read | 09.15.16

In AT&T Gov’t Solutions, Inc. (released Sept. 12, 2016), in which C&M represented AT&T, GAO sustained the protest of the Air Force’s award for computer network operations and cyberspace warfare operations. GAO determined that the Air Force had failed to reasonably evaluate whether the awardee had adequately avoided or mitigated unequal access to competitively sensitive information to which the awardee had access through its subcontractor that had provided acquisition support for the program and that the Air Force award decision was also premised on flawed past performance evaluations.

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Client Alert | 4 min read | 09.15.26

GAO Indicates Reasonable Conflict of Interest Investigation Must Include Inquiry of Involved Firm

The U.S. Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) recent decision in Viderity Inc.—Costs, B-424422.5, Sept. 1, 2026, offers useful insight into what constitutes a legally sufficient conflict of interest investigation. The decision arose in an unusual procedural posture: Viderity initially protested, alleging that an agency evaluator had a personal conflict of interest. After the agency took corrective action, Viderity filed a cost entitlement claim requesting that GAO direct the agency to reimburse Viderity’s protest costs. In evaluating that claim, GAO assessed whether Viderity’s underlying protest ground was “clearly meritorious.”...