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Section 809 Panel Proposes Significant Curtailing of Pre-Award and GAO/COFC Protest Process for Commercial-Item Acquisitions

Client Alert | 1 min read | 03.18.19

Much that has been written about the bid protest reforms in the Section 809 Panel’s final report has focused on Recommendations 66-69, which expressly address (and propose changes to) the protest process at the GAO and the COFC. But the 809 Panel’s most impactful recommended changes to the protest process actually may be contained in Recommendation 35. There, in the context of a discussion of “updating” the DoD’s process for the acquisition of commercial and related items and services, the 809 Panel proposes to eliminate entirely GAO/COFC protests for such acquisitions valued at less than $15 million (and likely many above that threshold as well).

The implementation of Recommendation 35 may have unstated consequences that could ripple across both DoD and civilian agency acquisitions.

Read more here.

Insights

Client Alert | 3 min read | 06.03.26

Important EU Court Judgment Clarifies Rules on Interest Due in Cartel Damages Cases

In a judgment that will have direct and immediate consequences, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has clarified that for all competition damages actions brought after 26 December 2014, interest runs from the date on which the harm occurred. The ruling addressed two important questions: (1) whether national provisions implementing Article 3(2) of the EU Damages Directive — which requires interest to run from the date harm occurred —apply to cases in which the harm preceded the adoption of those provisions; and (2) how the date of harm should be determined in cartel cases involving the purchase of goods at inflated prices....