Conference Committee Drops Controversial Bid Protest Reforms From NDAA FY 17, Opting Instead For More Study And A Higher Threshold For DoD Task Order Protests

Earlier this year, Congress toyed with the idea of significant reform to federal Government Accountability Office ("GAO") bid protest procedures but in the end appears to have opted only to tinker with them and punt the issue into the next Congress.

The proposed protest reforms were part of the Senate version of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 ("NDAA"), S. 2943, which passed the Senate on June 14, 2016. Unlike the House version of the NDAA, H.R. 4909, the Senate version proposed reforms to GAO protests that could have had significant impact. The Senate version of the bill, among other things, proposed to: (1) eliminate contractors' ability to protest DoD task and delivery orders if DoD determined it had established an appropriate internal review and oversight process; and (2) require unsuccessful, incumbent GAO protestors to repay any money above incurred costs on bridge contracts or extensions awarded to them because of their protest. The