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Offerors Beware: Exceptions to Data Rights Requirements May Prove Fatal

Client Alert | less than 1 min read | 02.03.16

In Deloitte Consulting, LLP (released Jan. 14, 2016), GAO held that, because the awardee’s proposal had taken exception to a solicitation provision that granted the government broader rights in materials (including software source code) than the rights conveyed by the FAR's standard data rights clause, it was unacceptable. This case serves as a reminder that the time for objecting to solicitation provisions, including those relating to technical data and computer software rights, is prior to proposal submission.

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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  This decision, while nonprecedential, is in line with U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) precedent, which has long held that pre-award protests must be filed before the proposal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....