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Past Performance Remains Fertile Ground For Protest Challenges

Client Alert | less than 1 min read | 11.18.05

In J.A. Farrington Janitorial Servs. (Oct. 18, 2005, http://www.gao.gov/decisions/bidpro/296875.pdf), GAO found unreasonable the agency's assignment of a "high confidence" rating to the awardee of a grounds maintenance contract where the awardee's past performance references all related to efforts of far smaller magnitude and for only commercial customers. GAO also found that the agency's determination that the price offered by the protester, a HUBZone small business, was unrealistic amounted to a responsibility determination, and therefore had to be submitted to the Small Business Administration for a possible certificate of competency.

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Client Alert | 3 min read | 07.23.26

Protester Beware: Recent GAO Decision Suggests Traditional “Reasonable Possibility” Prejudice Standard May Be Evolving

It is well established that “[c]ompetitive prejudice is an essential element of every viable protest.” Yet, for decades, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) has tempered this requirement with two critical corollaries: protesters need only demonstrate a “reasonable possibility” that they were prejudiced by an agency’s actions, and GAO “will resolve doubts regarding prejudice in favor of the protester.” These principles have been consistent features of GAO’s bid protest jurisprudence for more than 30 years. See, e.g., United Int’l Eng'g, Inc., B-245448, Jan. 29, 1992, 71 CPD ¶ 177....