RAND Corp. tells Congress that Bid Protests are Not a Problem

RAND Corp. recently submitted a report to Congress on the effects of Department of Defense bid protests, as required by the 2017 NDAA. Interestingly, RAND found:

• Bid protests are not a significant impediment, as some in Congress have suggested. To the contrary, “bid protests are exceedingly uncommon for DoD procurements.” 

• GAO’s 100-day deadline should stay. GAO already resolves 70% of protests within 60 days, and often needs the full 100 days for complex protests and numerous end of fiscal year protests. 

• Task order protests are important. The higher effectiveness rate for task order protests indicates that such procurements may be more problematic and should be protestable.

• A majority of protests are brought by small businesses. Congress should consider approaches to reduce and improve such protests. 

• Debriefings matter. “Evasive or adversarial debriefings may lead to a bid protest in most cases.” 
  

RAND also recommended improving DoD recordkeeping to support future studies.