Coulson Aviation protested at the Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) a sole source contract award by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (“USDA”) Forest Service for aerial long term fire retardant (“LTFR”) products and ancillary services to air tanker bases. Coulson Aviation USA, Inc., B-423952, Feb. 4, 2026. After receiving no response to its notice that it intended to award a sole source contract, and citing FAR 6.302-1 (“Only one responsible source and no other suppl

This blog has previously discussed denied protests where the protester has argued that an agency failed to evaluate in accordance with a similar but previous procurement. Now comes Low Voltage Wiring, Ltd., B-423502 et al, Jan. 30, 2026, where the Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) denied another protest because the agency reached different conclusions in a related procurement, and the procurements were conducted under different solicitations and were evaluated by diff

“Caveat Mancepts rei publicae,” Latin for “let the contractor for the government beware,” is how Judge Ryan T. Holte of the Court of Federal Claims (“COFC”) began his opinion in Margaret Abare v. United States, No. 22-171 (Fed. Cl March 19, 2026). The plaintiff, Margaret Abare, was a former mail handler with the U.S. Postal Service (“USPS”) who filed a complaint alleging discrimination. During settlement discussions that were ordered by the Equal Employment Opportunity Comm

If you protest a procurement at the Government Accountability Office (“GAO”), it is crucial that you meet all filing deadlines. Providing your comments on the agency report that is submitted by the procuring agency in response to the protest is especially important. The GAO rules state that “[c]omments on the agency report shall be filed within 10 days after the agency has filed the report, except where GAO has granted an extension of time or where GAO has established a shor

The Federal Acquisition Regulation (“FAR”) states that in a procurement by sealed bidding, “after bids are publicly opened, an award will be made…to that responsible bidder whose bid, conforming to the invitation for bids [“IFB”], will be most advantageous…considering only price and price related factors included in the invitation.” FAR 14.101(e). A bid shall be rejected, as stated in FAR 14.404-2, because it: • Fails to conform to the essential requirements of the [IFB] • F

It is rare to see an agency ignore a specific injunctive order of the Court of Federal Claims (“CFC”), and even rarer to see an enforcement action requested and enforcement granted in a government contracting matter. However, Gemini Tech Services v. United States et a l, No. 24-1494 (Fed. Cl. Feb. 5, 2026) is such a case. Indeed, Gemini is only one of the total of six reported enforcement actions filed at the CFC in the years 1961-Feb. 2026. Those cases are as follows: Gemi

The Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) denied a request for reconsideration of a decision dismissing a protest because the protester was not an interested party since there was an “intervening offer, i.e. another offeror in line to receive award if the protest was sustained. GAO held that it would not reconsider the decision because the requesting party failed to show that the original protest decision contained either errors of fact or law or information not previousl

The Department of Interior, National Park Service (“NPS”) issued a sole source notification stating that it intended to issue a purchase order to renew software licenses for an existing human resources platform provided by Government Retirements and Benefits (“GRB”). Economic Systems, Inc. (“Economic Systems”) protested at the Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) stating that the agency’s decision to limit sources to GRB was unreasonable because it could offer a platform