Serial GAO Protesters Beware
Have you ever noticed that some incumbent contractor’s protest contract award decisions to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) frequently? The protest is hopefully lodged because the incumbent is convinced the award decision was wrong – either the Evaluation Criteria for Award were not followed correctly; or, the contractor’s proposal was not evaluated fairly. In both cases, a “benefit” to the protester (even if it loses its appeal) is oftentimes an extension of their existing contract while the protest is being heard.
The GAO has noticed this also; and isn’t particularly happy about frivolous protests. However, it is interesting that the GAO did not use the term “frivolous” in its decision involving Latvian Connection LLC.
The attached article, regarding a protest by Latvian Connection LLC, posted here with the permission of the National Contract Management Association (NCMA) and the author, Christoph Mlinarchik, is worth a read. The author’s article was chosen as the most outstanding article published by Contract Management magazine in 2016. Chistoph’s website is: http://www.christophllc.com.