1. Home
  2. |Insights
  3. |Clean Energy Award Polluted

Clean Energy Award Polluted

Client Alert | 1 min read | 02.26.13

In Nexant, Inc (Jan. 30, 2013), GAO sustained the protest of Nexant, Inc., represented by Crowell & Moring, to the award of a clean energy consulting contract by USAID, finding that USAID engaged in misleading discussions, based its evaluation on a flawed methodology that led to numerous unreasonable evaluation conclusions, and did not reasonably explain its basis for choosing the awardee's higher cost proposal. While GAO ultimately declined to rule on the issue of what weight it should afford to a source selection decision document (SSDD) drafted after both contract award and the filing of a protest, it did note that there is "a reasonable concern" whether such an after-the-fact SSDD can accurately represent the fair and considered judgment of the agency.


Contacts

Insights

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....