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Equal Treatment Applies Even If Minimum Discussions Threshold Met

Client Alert | less than 1 min read | 08.06.10

In AMEC Earth & Envtl., Inc. (Dec. 22, 2009), GAO sustained a protest of a contract award by the Coast Guard for construction services because the agency had engaged in unequal discussions. GAO concluded that, while FAR § 15.306 establishes that the agency must, at a minimum, address "significant weakness and deficiencies" during discussions, if the agency opts to conduct broader discussions than the minimum, it must do so in an equal fashion and may not rely on the minimum threshold in the FAR to excuse disparate treatment.

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Client Alert | 19 min read | 12.18.25

2025 GAO Bid Protest Annual Report: Where Have All the Protests Gone?

On December 12, 2025, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) released its annual report on bid protests for fiscal year 2025, containing the full statistics shown below:...