What are the grounds for a bid protest, GAO's filing deadlines, and the realistic win rates under 4 CFR 21?

Details / How it works

A bid protest is a challenge to the terms of a solicitation or to the award of a federal contract, resolved by GAO's Procurement Law Division. Under 4 CFR 21.8(a), if GAO determines that a solicitation, cancellation, proposed award, or award does not comply with statute or regulation, it shall recommend remedies such as termination, recompetition, or cost reimbursement. Filing deadlines are prescribed in 4 CFR 21.2:

• Solicitation improprieties apparent before bid opening must be protested before bid opening or the time set for receipt of initial proposals (4 CFR 21.2(a)(1)).
• Other protest bases (e.g., award challenges) must be filed within 10 calendar days after the basis of protest is known or should have been known (4 CFR 21.2(a)(2)).
• Where a required debriefing applies (competitive proposals), the protest must be filed no earlier than the offered debriefing date and no later than 10 days after the debriefing is held (4 CFR 21.2(a)(2)).
• If a timely agency-level protest was previously filed, any subsequent GAO protest must be filed within 10 days of actual or constructive knowledge of initial adverse agency action (4 CFR 21.2(a)(3)).

All deadlines are calendar days; if a deadline falls on a weekend or federal holiday, it extends to the next business day. GAO may also consider an untimely protest for good cause shown or if it raises issues significant to the procurement system (4 CFR 21.2(c)).

Numbers & thresholds

Exceptions & edge cases

• Debriefing exception (4 CFR 21.2(a)(2)): For competitive proposal procurements, a protester may wait until after a required debriefing to file, and the protest is timely if filed within 10 days after the debriefing. To obtain the CICA stay of performance, the protest generally must reach the agency within 5 days after the debriefing (31 U.S.C. 3553; FAR 33.104).
• Agency-level protest (4 CFR 21.2(a)(3)): A prior timely agency-level protest extends the GAO filing deadline to 10 days after initial adverse agency action, even if that date falls after bid opening.
• Good cause or system significance (4 CFR 21.2(c)): GAO may consider an untimely protest for good cause shown or if it raises issues significant to the procurement system. The protester must include all timeliness-establishing information in its initial protest; it cannot introduce new information in a request for reconsideration.
• No win rate data is provided in the available sources.