You Must Ante Up To Play In The Game

The Federal Circuit in Rex Service Corp. v. U.S. (May 8, 2006) emphasized that a company must respond to a solicitation, even if it thinks it is flawed, to be able to have standing as an "interested party" to protest. Unless the company is prevented from bidding (e.g., by a sole-source award), a company does not meet the requirements of being "an actual or prospective bidder" with a "direct economic interest" if it could have bid but didn't.