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Post Hoc Explanation Inadequate To Save Unreasonable Price Evaluation

Client Alert | 1 min read | 07.15.08

In Joint Venture Penauille/BMAR & Associates, LLC (May 12, 2008, http://www.gao.gov/decisions/bidpro/311200.pdf), GAO sustained a challenge to the Navy's price evaluation, when, in a fixed-procurement, the agency unreasonably rejected the protester's proposal on the grounds that it offered low indefinite quantity pricing for certain minor work and the record contained no evidence that the pricing actually presented any risk to performance. GAO rejected the agency's post hoc justification that the low pricing presented performance risk because the contractor allegedly had the option to reject work if not sufficiently profitable, finding no support for this assertion in the record and nothing in the RFP that permitted the winning contractor to reject orders for the subject indefinite quantity work.

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Client Alert | 5 min read | 03.30.26

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On March 26, 2026, President Trump issued an executive order (EO) titled Addressing DEI Discrimination by Federal Contractors. The EO declares diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) “activities” “unethical and often illegal,” and imposes new obligations on federal contractors and subcontractors related to DEI programming. Contractors that do business with the federal government — or that work as subcontractors for companies that do — should review the EO closely to determine the extent to which they are compliant with the new requirements....