When and Where to File a Bid Protest

[Bid Protest Video Transcript]

[Introduction]

My name is Joe Whitcomb and I am coming to you this morning from Denver, Colorado, bringing you another addition of vetbizlawyer video and podcast.  I'm the owner and founder of Whitcomb Selinsky PC and today I'm going to discuss a topic that is typically top of mind for many government contractors.  When and where should my company file a bid protest?

But, let’s start with, “what is a bid protest?”

A bid protest is something a government contractor can file at varying stages of the procurement process, when the contractor disagrees with something the procuring agency has done. A company can file a pre-award bid protest at the instance in which it discovers a defect in the solicitation itself.  Another type of protest is a post-award bid protest. A company would file this when it believes that the procurement process was either carried out incorrectly or resulted in an unfair outcome.  The protestor might believe that the agency should have awarded it the contract based on the evaluation criteria in the solicitation.  Or, you as the contractor may learn that the contracting officer did not apply the evaluation criteria correctly, meaning the criteria was applied in a way that was contrary to the solicitation documents.  Today we'll be discussing a number of different scenarios. 

[Types of Bid Protest]

          This first type of bid protests is one that the protestor actually files with the competing agency.  This is called an agency level a bid protest. 

[GAO Bid Protest]

The second type of protest a company can file is called a GAO bid protest.  That is a protest that a company files at the Government Accountability Office.  The GAO has its own set of rules covered under 4 CFR 4.21.   

[Protest at the Court of Federal Claims]

The third type of bid protest is filed at the Court of Federal Claims, which is a court in Washington DC. It's a court of unique jurisdiction, which means it is the only court in the country that is allowed to hear cases against the United States that originate in contract. These cannot be filed in any other US District Court. So, again, if you to have a rule violation and that rule violation has negatively impacted your company, you can file the protest at the Court of Federal Claims.

[Conclusion]

So, those are the types of bid protest and the timing on those bid protest. Normally, the timing at the Court of federal claims from complaint to adjudication is about 120 days. This court is intentionally very quick, because in many instances the government procurement process is either halted completely or at least is unclear and so the Court of Federal Claims tries to get these cases adjudicated quickly.

That is the conclusion of our overview of bid protests. If you have any questions about bid protests, of course you know how to reach us. You can reach us at the number on your screen. There is even a link on this page to schedule an appointment with a member of our legal team.   We are happy to counsel you on whether a bid protest at the Court of Federal Claims, GAO or agency level is advisable. So again, I thank you for your time  hope you found the video useful. Good-bye.