GAO Teaches Course in Cost Realism 101
Client Alert | less than 1 min read | 06.06.07
In Magellan Health Services (Jan. 5, 2007, http://www.gao.gov/decisions/bidpro/298912.pdf), GAO sustained a protest of HHS's award of a cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for employee assistance program services when the agency's cost realism evaluation was unreasonable for several reasons, including a failure to account for insufficient levels of effort and labor rates in the awardee's cost proposal. After chiding the agency for not adjusting the awardee's cost proposal in accordance with the recommendations of the agency's own cost analyst, GAO found the adjusted costs were still lower than the protestor's but the smaller delta required the agency to take another look at its unsupported conclusion that the offerors were "technically equal."
Insights
Client Alert | 7 min read | 05.21.26
A New Playbook for M&A in the EU: The European Commission's Draft Merger Guidelines - 10 Key Changes
On 30 April 2026, the European Commission published draft merger guidelines that will replace both the 2004 Horizontal Merger Guidelines and the 2008 Non-Horizontal Merger Guidelines, consolidating them into a single analytical framework.
Client Alert | 3 min read | 05.21.26
Judge Jennifer Choe-Groves Takes Over Several DNJ Hatch-Waxman Cases
Client Alert | 7 min read | 05.19.26
American and Allied Cyber Agencies Issue First Joint Guidance on Securing Agentic AI
Client Alert | 3 min read | 05.19.26
