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Potential OCI Short-Circuits Sole-Source Award

Client Alert | less than 1 min read | 01.17.08

In Superlative Technologies, Inc. (Jan. 4, 2008, http://www.gao.gov/decisions/bidpro/310489.pdf), GAO held improper the cancellation of a solicitation by DOJ due to potential Procurement Integrity Act (PIA) and organizational conflict of interest unfair competitive advantage problems when DOJ turned around and awarded a sole-source contract for the same work to a contractor using as a subcontractor the company with the PIA/OCI problem. GAO recommended that DOJ reopen the competition and follow the procurement integrity and OCI regulations to determine the scope of the problem and whether any offerors should be disqualified or other corrective actions should be required.

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Client Alert | 3 min read | 07.10.26

Federal Circuit Clarifies Application of Blue & Gold: Proposal Submission Deadline, Not Award, is the Operative Time for Filing

In Utech, Inc. v. United States, No. 24-1586 (Fed. Cir. June 24, 2026), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit clarified that in most cases, a pre-award protest must be filed before the proposal submission deadline to avoid the Blue & Gold waiver rule.  This decision, while nonprecedential, is in line with U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) precedent, which has long held that pre-award protests must be filed before the proposal submission deadline....