Businesses hoping to win a government contract must be familiar and comply with a host of complex timeliness rules, from the deadlines for submitting proposals and revisions, to the rules for protesting a potentially improper award to a competitor.
One small slip-up may be the difference between receiving a contract and not receiving it.
Untimeliness is a theme that frequently appears in the Government Accountability Office (GAO) protests we highlight on this blog: late proposals, tardy requests for a debriefing, untimely protests.
Some deadlines are obvious: If the solicitation says proposals are due at 5:00 p.m., don’t submit your proposal at 5:30 p.m. Others are less intuitive: When is the last possible moment you can request a required debriefing? A few are positively convoluted.
We provide a few practical tips on timeliness below, illustrated with some cautionary protest decisions. As always, if you are not absolutely sure about any deadline, ask your procurement attorney.
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Unless an agency designates different business hours, the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) says that a government agency is deemed to close at 4:30 p.m. local time–not 5:00 p.m., as it would be easy to assume.