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Pre-Award Key Personnel Departure Creates Catch-22 – Do I Tell or Not?

Client Alert | less than 1 min read | 12.24.15

In Pioneering Evolution, LLC (Dec. 8, 2015), GAO agreed with the Navy's rejection of an offer as technically unacceptable for failure to satisfy a material solicitation requirement when the protester had notified the Navy after submission of final proposal revisions (FPRs) but before award that one of its proposed key personnel had accepted another position and was no longer available to perform. GAO asserted that the protestor was required to notify the Navy but that it had no right to substitute a qualified replacement, confirming that offerors are at risk if they inform an agency of key personnel departures post-FPR.

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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  This decision, while nonprecedential, is in line with U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) precedent, which has long held that pre-award protests must be filed before the proposal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....