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If you’re not early, you’re late: Meeting deadlines in federal procurements

October 18, 2018 By Andrew Smith

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.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.mondaq.com/article.asp?articleid=742438

Filed Under: Contracting Tips Tagged With: deadline, debriefing, GAO, late bid, protest, timeliness, untimely

It’s 4:30 pm — Do you know where your debrief request is?

September 26, 2018 By Andrew Smith

For those of you who have ever protested a solicitation before the Government Accountability Office (GAO), you know about GAO’s strict rules regarding timeliness.

Under GAO rules, a document is considered filed on a particular day if it is received in GAO’s new electronic filing system by 5:30 p.m. ET.  This rule is strictly enforced, as shown by the recent dismissal of a protest in CWIS, Inc., B-416544.  In that case, GAO dismissed a protest filed by 5:46 p.m, as untimely, even though the late filing resulted from an issue with GAO’s new electronic filing system.

What you may not know, however, is that similar strict timeliness rules also apply to requesting a required debriefing.

In the recent Exceptional Software Strategies, Inc. decision, GAO held that close of business for government agencies was 4:30 p.m., based on the time set forth in FAR 33.101, which governs agency protests.  GAO accordingly ruled that a debriefing request received after 4:30 p.m. was untimely. Because GAO found that the debriefing request was untimely, the protest itself was untimely.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.hklaw.com/GovConBlog/Its-430-pm-Do-You-Know-Where-Your-Debrief-Request-Is-07-27-2018/

Filed Under: Contracting Tips Tagged With: debriefing, GAO, timeliness, untimely

GAO: Protest filed within 10 days of debrief still untimely

November 16, 2015 By Andrew Smith

The Government Accountability Office’s recent decision in Protect the Force Inc.—Reconsideration demonstrates the importance of understanding GAO’s prior case law and carefully following the rules set out in its bid protest regulations.

GAO-GovernmentAccountabilityOffice-SealIn the September 30, 2015 decision, GAO denied a request for reconsideration by Protect the Force, Inc. (PTF) finding that, though PTF filed within 10 days of a required debrief, its protest was untimely because PTF did not file within 10 days of an alleged solicitation impropriety on which its protest was based.

On July 27, 2015, after the submission of final proposal revisions, the U.S. Army notified offerors it was amending the maximum dollar amount for a line item in the request for proposal (RFP). The Army declined, however, to provide offerors with an opportunity to submit revised proposals in response to this amendment. Two days later, the agency notified PTF that it was eliminated from the competition. PTF timely requested a debriefing, which the agency provided on August 5, 2015. Five days after the debriefing, PTF filed a bid protest at the GAO challenging the agency’s amendment to the RFP. To recap the timeline of PTF’s protest: PTF filed 14 days after the agency amended the RFP, 12 days after PTF was eliminated, and 5 days after it was provided with a required debriefing.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.mondaq.com/article.asp?articleid=440708

Filed Under: Contracting Tips Tagged With: Army, bid protest, debriefing, GAO, protest, RFP, untimely

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