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No Fun(ding): GAO, Courts, and Boards Describe Operations During Government Shutdown

Client Alert | 1 min read | 10.01.13

On October 1, the federal government officially "shut down" operations (discussed here), and for contractors appearing before various forums, the impacts will vary: the GAO is closed during the shutdown and any deadline for a private party that falls on a day it is closed will be extended to the first day that GAO resumes operations (although filings can still be made electronically); the ASBCA and the CBCA will remain open for the purpose of accepting filings from parties and the CBCA has explicitly stated that it will not waive or toll any statutory time limits; the Court of Federal Claims "will continue to hear and decide cases without interruption"; and the Federal Circuit will remain open for normal business through at least October 11.


Insights

Client Alert | 4 min read | 10.30.26

Two Wrongs Don’t Make a Right: GAO Sustains Protest Where Agency Tried to Fix PIA Violation with a Second PIA Violation

Recent sustain decisions by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) in Fluor Federal Solutions, LLC and Reliance Test & Technology send a clear message: when an agency tries to fix a Procurement Integrity Act (PIA) violation by committing a second one, the cure can be just as fatal as the disease. The cases involved the U.S. Air Force’s $1.8 billion procurement for O&M services at Elgin Air Force Base. During discussions, the Air Force inadvertently released a pricing overview slide with all offerors’ bottom-line evaluated costs to Reliance Test & Technology, which immediately notified the agency of the error. In response, the Air Force decided to level the playing field by providing the same information to all the other offerors in the procurement, stating, “[o]fferors may consider this disclosure in their [final proposal revision].”...