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ARTICLE · 20 NOVEMBER 2025

As GAO Reopens Post-Shutdown, Contract Awardees Should Leverage A Powerful Early Tactic To Defeat Bid Protests

Mayer Brown
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With the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) poised to reopen and agencies resuming solicitations, awards, and debriefings, contractors should expect a sharp uptick in bid protest activity in the coming months.

United StatesGovernment, Public Sector
John Prairie
John Prairie
Ryan Frazee
Ryan Frazee
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With the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) poised to reopen and agencies resuming solicitations, awards, and debriefings, contractors should expect a sharp uptick in bid protest activity in the coming months. In that environment, early procedural positioning can matter for contract awardees as much as substantive evaluation challenges. GAO's recent decision in Amentum Parsons Logistics Services LLC—Reconsideration, B-422697.14, offers a timely reminder of where the early battles may be won or lost. GAO effectively validated a strategy for awardees to intervene and refocus the dispute on the protester's standing—by demonstrating on the face of the proposal that the protester was ineligible for award—even where the agency itself did not rely on that defect during the evaluation. As protests surge following the shutdown, both awardees and disappointed offerors should understand this development and calibrate their strategies accordingly.

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