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ARTICLE · 13 JANUARY 2022

December 2021 Bid Protest Roundup

Morrison Foerster
Morrison Foerster
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Morrison Foerster

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This month's Law360 Bid Protest Roundup focuses on two Government Accountability Office (GAO) decisions and one recent Federal Circuit decision.

United StatesGovernment, Public Sector
Roke Iko
Roke Iko
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This month's Law360 Bid Protest Roundup focuses on two Government Accountability Office (GAO) decisions and one recent Federal Circuit decision. These decisions involve (1) the risks of using former government employees in the proposal process, (2) the requirements for an agency's brand-name justification, and (3) whether there is a presumption of prejudice if a protester shows a procuring agency has acted irrationally.

Serco Inc.1

Contractors can acquire valuable institutional knowledge by hiring former federal government officials. However, they should proceed cautiously when using these officials in obtaining contracts. The GAO has held that when a former government official assists an offeror in a competition for a government contract, the former official is presumed to use any useful, non-public information to which she had access as a government employee.2 In Serco, the GAO affirmed this principle and sustained a protest for a $372 million Navy professional

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Because of the generality of this update, the information provided herein may not be applicable in all situations and should not be acted upon without specific legal advice based on particular situations.

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