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Award Fee Determination Must Be Made By Designated Official

Client Alert | less than 1 min read | 01.29.07

As part of the long-running saga of the operation of the Rocky Flats Nuclear Weapons Plant in Colorado, the Court of Federal Claims in The Boeing Co. v. United States. (Jan. 17, 2007) has held the Department of Energy in breach because, after the initiation of an investigation of the contractor, the Secretary's office mandated lower award fees than DOE's Rocky Flats Manager had independently determined. Restoring the independent determinations, the court found that, when the contract specifies the individual who is to make the determination (here the Manager), his superiors may not override that determination without breaching the contract.

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Client Alert | 2 min read | 12.19.25

GAO Cautions Agencies—Over-Redact at Your Own Peril

Bid protest practitioners in recent years have witnessed agencies’ increasing efforts to limit the production of documents and information in response to Government Accountability Office (GAO) bid protests—often will little pushback from GAO. This practice has underscored the notable difference in the scope of bid protest records before GAO versus the Court of Federal Claims. However, in Tiger Natural Gas, Inc., B-423744, Dec. 10, 2025, 2025 CPD ¶ __, GAO made clear that there are limits to the scope of redactions, and GAO will sustain a protest where there is insufficient evidence that the agency’s actions were reasonable....