Anyone involved in the government contracting process can tell you that bid protests cause a great deal of anxiety. From the stress caused by the ding on performance evaluations to the automatic stay and the loss of revenue, neither the government nor private industry view a bid protest as a positive.
Despite the discomfort that bid protests cause, there is a positive that can be found in the action. The bid protest is probably the best learning tool that contracting professionals can utilize to refine their source selection methods.
Now, before you shake your head, consider this; according to the GAO Bid Protest Annual Report to Congress for Fiscal Year 2017, the most prevalent reasons that bid protests were sustained in FY17 were:
Unreasonable technical evaluation;
Unreasonable past performance evaluation;
Unreasonable cost or price evaluation;
Inadequate selection decision; and
Flawed selection decision.
All of these sustained protests were due to failures in the source selection process.
So what, you ask? How does knowing this information help refine source selection?
Here’s how:
1. Learning from the mistakes of others:
GAO bid protest decisions are available on the GAO website https://www.gao.gov/legal/ for everyone to read. The decisions walk the reader through the process that led to the protest, apply the facts to the law, and render a decision. These decisions allow other contracting professionals to learn what their peers did wrong in their source selection process so they can avoid making the same mistakes.
2. Learning from your own mistakes:
Too often, a solicitation is rushed onto the street. Rushed solicitations usually have flaws and, more often than not, those flaws are in the evaluation criteria. For a multitude of reasons, those flaws are overlooked and it isn’t until the bid protest is received that the document is given the closer look it should have received prior to release. Using the allegations in the bid protest to review the solicitation can reveal failures that the eyes in the office have missed. Looking at evaluation factors from the eyes of the evaluated makes contracting professionals aware of how bidders understand the requirements. This is knowledge that can be applied when creating future solicitations.
3. Taking corrective action:
Fair or not, there is a perception that some in private industry simply file protests because they can. Perhaps this is true of some, which is why Section 827 of the NDAA requires unsuccessful protesters to reimburse the DOD for costs. It can’t be true of all, because bid protests can be very costly for the protester. Usually, companies protest because they sincerely believe that their bid was not evaluated properly, and had it been, they would have won the award. In these cases, the protester just wants to be treated fairly and will allow the government to conduct a re-evaluation of bids.
Although the contracting officer (CO) is responsible for the final source selection, the CO relies on the evaluations conducted by the technical evaluation committee (TEC). The TEC is comprised of professionals for whom conducting bid evaluations is an ancillary duty, and their lack of experience in conducting evaluations, or their lack of time to commit to the process while performing their actual duties, can lead to mistakes. The mistakes may not be obvious to the CO and a selection may not be made based on the best offer.
In these cases, the bid protest prompts the CO and the TEC to take corrective action. Re-evaluating the bids can identify mistakes that were made in the evaluation process or it can reaffirm that the correct decision was made. Either way, re-evaluations ensure the source selection process was conducted fairly and properly. After the re-evaluation, the award may still go to the original selectee, it may go to the protester, or it may go to another vendor. Whatever the result, the government can be confident that it has chosen the vendor best suited for its needs. The vendor, in turn, can be confident that is was treated fairly.
It is doubtful that bid protests will ever discard their negative connotation but, if they help improve the source selection process, perhaps they should be appreciated just a little bit.
If you require training on source selection or bid protests please visit the Management Concepts website at https://www.managementconcepts.com/.
Tag: GAO
Celebrate the Astounding Accomplishments Made by GAO in FY2019
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) “exists to support the Congress in meeting its constitutional responsibilities and to help improve the performance and ensure the accountability of the Federal Government for the benefit of the American people.”
No Rest After #GPAConf18
This was going to be a post about how wonderful the 2018 Grant Professionals Association (GPA) Annual Conference in Chicago was – meeting up with friends, finding Url the Squirrel, introducing my colleagues Vera and Lahaja to the grants community, Hamilton… but instead it’s back to regular order.
Is a push for more Federal Grants certifications sustainable?
The GAO released its report on the Grants Workforce last week and for me there were no surprises.
Agencies are still struggling to identify who comprises the grants workforce
Some agencies adopted the 1109 job series
There’s a drive to a certification…but no consensus on what that should be
Adoption of the Financial Assistance Career Roadmap is limited
More training is needed
3 Ways Bid Protests Can Help Improve Source Selection
Anyone involved in the government contracting process can tell you that bid protests cause a great deal of anxiety. From the stress caused by the ding on performance evaluations to the automatic stay and the loss of revenue, neither the government nor private industry view a bid protest as a positive.
Despite the discomfort that bid protests cause, there is a positive that can be found in the action. The bid protest is probably the best learning tool that contracting professionals can utilize to refine their source selection methods.
Now, before you shake your head, consider this; according to the GAO Bid Protest Annual Report to Congress for Fiscal Year 2017, the most prevalent reasons that bid protests were sustained in FY17 were:
Unreasonable technical evaluation;
Unreasonable past performance evaluation;
Unreasonable cost or price evaluation;
Inadequate selection decision; and
Flawed selection decision.
All of these sustained protests were due to failures in the source selection process.
So what, you ask? How does knowing this information help refine source selection?
Here’s how:
1. Learning from the mistakes of others:
GAO bid protest decisions are available on the GAO website https://www.gao.gov/legal/ for everyone to read. The decisions walk the reader through the process that led to the protest, apply the facts to the law, and render a decision. These decisions allow other contracting professionals to learn what their peers did wrong in their source selection process so they can avoid making the same mistakes.
2. Learning from your own mistakes:
Too often, a solicitation is rushed onto the street. Rushed solicitations usually have flaws and, more often than not, those flaws are in the evaluation criteria. For a multitude of reasons, those flaws are overlooked and it isn’t until the bid protest is received that the document is given the closer look it should have received prior to release. Using the allegations in the bid protest to review the solicitation can reveal failures that the eyes in the office have missed. Looking at evaluation factors from the eyes of the evaluated makes contracting professionals aware of how bidders understand the requirements. This is knowledge that can be applied when creating future solicitations.
3. Taking corrective action:
Fair or not, there is a perception that some in private industry simply file protests because they can. Perhaps this is true of some, which is why Section 827 of the NDAA requires unsuccessful protesters to reimburse the DOD for costs. It can’t be true of all, because bid protests can be very costly for the protester. Usually, companies protest because they sincerely believe that their bid was not evaluated properly, and had it been, they would have won the award. In these cases, the protester just wants to be treated fairly and will allow the government to conduct a re-evaluation of bids.
Although the contracting officer (CO) is responsible for the final source selection, the CO relies on the evaluations conducted by the technical evaluation committee (TEC). The TEC is comprised of professionals for whom conducting bid evaluations is an ancillary duty, and their lack of experience in conducting evaluations, or their lack of time to commit to the process while performing their actual duties, can lead to mistakes. The mistakes may not be obvious to the CO and a selection may not be made based on the best offer.
In these cases, the bid protest prompts the CO and the TEC to take corrective action. Re-evaluating the bids can identify mistakes that were made in the evaluation process or it can reaffirm that the correct decision was made. Either way, re-evaluations ensure the source selection process was conducted fairly and properly. After the re-evaluation, the award may still go to the original selectee, it may go to the protester, or it may go to another vendor. Whatever the result, the government can be confident that it has chosen the vendor best suited for its needs. The vendor, in turn, can be confident that is was treated fairly.
It is doubtful that bid protests will ever discard their negative connotation but, if they help improve the source selection process, perhaps they should be appreciated just a little bit.
If you require training on source selection or bid protests please visit the Management Concepts website at https://www.managementconcepts.com/.
Use It or Lose It: Fiscal Year-End Spending
The end of the Federal fiscal year is well on its way, and that means funds may be made available to certain programs and activities for obligation before they expire on September 30.
With Protests on the Rise, What Can Agencies Do?
The Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) Bid Protest Annual Report, published at the end of 2016, revealed that the number of protests increased for the third consecutive year. Furthermore, GAO’s statistics show that bid protests have been climbing for the last several years:
Agency Experts and Leaders Convene to Address Challenges Facing Federal Workforce Management
On the morning of March 28, at the University Club in Washington, D.C., Management Concepts joined forces with the National Academy for Public Administration (NAPA) to produce a spirited, critical event called “Exploring and Addressing Talent Gaps in Federal Workforce Management.”
Hiring Freeze? Time to Thaw the Organization’s Human Capital Plan
Despite the uncertainty and anxiety that comes with it, the Federal hiring freeze may be a forcing mechanism to invest in what the GAO has been asking the Federal government to do for almost two decades now—get better at human capital planning.
Federal Financial Management Changes in 2017: It Started in 2016
It was a big year for Federal Financial Management in 2016, and 2017 is shaping up to be another important year for all of you FMers out there. Here’s a two-part rundown of big changes in 2016 that will continue to affect our field in 2017—we’ve included quick tips and reminders for adapting to these changes, and resources for how to stay up to date in our ever-changing field.