GAO Bid Protest Statistics for FY2019

On November 5, 2019, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) released its Annual Report on Bid Protests for Fiscal Year 2019. GAO received and sustained slightly fewer protests than in FY2018, but the overall Effectiveness Rate—i.e., the percentage of time the protester received relief, such as voluntary corrective action or GAO sustaining its protest—held steady at 44%. The most common bases for sustained protests in FY2019 were (1) unreasonable technical evaluations; (2) inadequate documentation of agency records; (3) flawed selection decisions; (4) unequal treatment of offerors; and (5) unreasonable cost or price evaluations.