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Sequestration Found Valid Basis for Canceling Solicitation

Client Alert | less than 1 min read | 09.23.13

In Vinculum Solutions, Inc. (Aug. 5, 2013), GAO, relying on the "broad discretion" afforded to agencies to define their needs and manage their procurements, concluded that the IRS's need to reduce costs due to the ongoing budget sequestration was a valid basis for canceling a solicitation. This appears to be the first decision in which GAO has considered the impacts of sequestration on the procurement process, and it may green-light similar actions in the months ahead for agencies coping with the ongoing sequester and the uncertainties of the FY14 appropriations process.


Insights

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....