全球智库信息集成服务系统

Despite a Steady Increase in Bid Protests Filed, Their Numbers Remain Small

• Bid protest activity for both DoD and non-DoD agencies roughly doubled between fiscal years 2008 and 2016 at the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) and the U.S. Court of Federal Claims (COFC). DoD agencies accounted for around 60 percent of this activity, with small businesses making up half of these cases.
• The share of contracts protested remains very small — less than 0.3 percent. A significant number of these protests concerned smaller-value contracts ($0.1 million or less).

Trends in Bid Protest Outcomes Differed Between GAO and COFC

• Effectiveness rates at GAO — the share of protest cases sustained or in which the contracting agency took corrective action — held steady over time. This suggests that firms are generally not filing protests without merit.
• At GAO, DoD agencies had slightly lower effectiveness rates than non-DoD agencies. Protests of task orders, awards for specific tasks or deliveries under a contract, had slightly higher effectiveness rates than other types of protests.
• The sustained rate at COFC has declined over time, suggesting that firms may be more willing to file protests with the court going forward.

DoD Agencies and the Private Sector Had Differing Views on the Bid Protest Process

• DoD personnel were concerned that the process incentivized protests, potentially preventing the timely award of contracts.
• The private sector viewed bid protests as a way to hold the government accountable for providing information about how a decision was made.

Bid protests have been a feature of the U.S. defense acquisition environment for decades. If an interested party believes that the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) has made an error in issuing a solicitation for a bid, canceling a contract, or choosing a winning bid, it has the right to file a protest questioning the outcome. A company may file a protest with the contracting DoD agency, the U.S. Government Accountability Office, or the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. In recent years, the process has come under increased scrutiny. For example, it is unclear what level of resources DoD must dedicate to bid protests or to what extent they lead to higher costs or scheduling delays. There has also been concern that the current process may encourage frivolous protests. In response, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 called for a "comprehensive study on the prevalence and impact of bid protests on DoD acquisitions," including the systematic collection and analysis of information on the characteristics of bid protests and their associated contracting outcomes. The resulting study found tension between DoD's need to move forward with procurements and companies' need for information about how a contract award decision was made. However, the overall share of contracts protested was very small, and the outcome of protests depended greatly on the characteristics of the contracts.

• Chapter One

  Introduction

• Chapter Two

  Bid Protest Definition, Brief Historical Overview, and Related Research

• Chapter Three

  Stakeholder Perspectives on the Bid Protest System

• Chapter Four

  Quantitative Analysis of DoD Bid Protest Activity Since FY 2008 at GAO

• Chapter Five

  Quantitative Analysis of DoD Bid Protest Activity Since CY 2008 at COFC

• Chapter Six

  Supplemental Data and Analysis

• Chapter Seven

  Recommendations

• Appendix A

  Supplemental Analysis

• Appendix B

  FPDS-NG Analyses

• Appendix C

  DoD Discussion Questions