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GAO Rejects Rubber-Stamp LPTA Technical Evaluation

Client Alert | less than 1 min read | 12.14.15

In a low-price-technically-acceptable procurement for IDIQ contracts for flame-resistant Army combat shirts, GAO sustained a challenge to the technical evaluation because the agency did not critically evaluate whether any of the three awardees' proposals actually met a particular solicitation requirement. GAO rejected the agency's nondescript finding that each awardee's proposal was "acceptable," and instead concluded that none of the awardees had provided a meaningful narrative addressing the requirement and that one, in fact, had included test data in its proposal showing that it did not meet the requirement.


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Client Alert | 3 min read | 07.10.26

Federal Circuit Clarifies Application of Blue & Gold: Proposal Submission Deadline, Not Award, is the Operative Time for Filing

In Utech, Inc. v. United States, No. 24-1586 (Fed. Cir. June 24, 2026), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit clarified that in most cases, a pre-award protest must be filed before the proposal submission deadline to avoid the Blue & Gold waiver rule.  This decision, while nonprecedential, is in line with U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) precedent, which has long held that pre-award protests must be filed before the proposal submission deadline....