Getting Off the Well-Worn GAO Protest Path

Submitting a proposal in response to a government solicitation often is the culmination of months — or years — of painstaking preparation. So, when an offeror receives notice that the contract has been awarded to someone else, the first instinct is to think “but our proposal was the best!” The disappointed offeror stands ready to file a protest to show the adjudicators at the Government Accountability Office — and the world — just how outstanding their proposal really was. Ask any protest practitioner what happens next, and he or she will describe a well-worn path.