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GAO Bid Protest Statistics for FY2019

Client Alert | less than 1 min read | 11.08.19

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.


Insights

Client Alert | 2 min read | 12.19.25

GAO Cautions Agencies—Over-Redact at Your Own Peril

Bid protest practitioners in recent years have witnessed agencies’ increasing efforts to limit the production of documents and information in response to Government Accountability Office (GAO) bid protests—often will little pushback from GAO. This practice has underscored the notable difference in the scope of bid protest records before GAO versus the Court of Federal Claims. However, in Tiger Natural Gas, Inc., B-423744, Dec. 10, 2025, 2025 CPD ¶ __, GAO made clear that there are limits to the scope of redactions, and GAO will sustain a protest where there is insufficient evidence that the agency’s actions were reasonable....