The Different Types of Bid Protests

By Cotney Construction Law.

At some point, most construction companies will lose out on a bid.

If your company’s bid did not win, and after a requested debrief, you find that the awarding entity was not fair in the decision making, then you can proceed by protesting the bid. There are three types of bid protests: pre-bid protest, pre-award protest, and post-award protest.

A pre-bid protest is one where some part of the solicitation is unjust to your company. A pre-award protest is when your company was unfairly excluded from the competition. A post-award protest is when the final state of the process had mistakes or flaws.

Pre-award and post-award protests can both be successful if it can be proved that the agency held biased discussions with another company during negotiations, misunderstood your price, or awarded the bid based off of different criteria than what was named in the solicitation.

There are three main options for filing a protest: The contracting agency, the Government Accountability Office (GAO), and the Court of Federal Claims.

When a protest is filed with an agency, or even with the GAO, execution of the procurement will typically be suspended, regardless of whether the protest is filed before or after a contract award. When filing protest at the Court of Federal Claims, you have the option to inquire about a preliminary injunction against the agency.

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Disclaimer: The information contained in this article is for general educational information only. This information does not constitute legal advice, is not intended to constitute legal advice, nor should it be relied upon as legal advice for your specific factual pattern or situation.