ARTICLE · 16 DECEMBER 2020

Enhanced Debriefing End Date Still Unresolved: DOJ Seeks To Overturn "NIKA Technologies"

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A few months ago, we wrote about how the COFC had defined when the protest clock starts running for a stay of contract performance pending a bid protest if the DoD's enhanced post-award debriefing procedures are used.

United StatesGovernment, Public Sector

Patrick R. Quigley

Aron C. Beezley

A few months ago, we wrote about how the U.S. Court of Federal Claims (COFC) had defined when the protest clock starts running for a stay of contract performance pending a bid protest if the Department of Defense's (DOD) enhanced post-award debriefing procedures are used. The case was NIKA Technologies, Inc. v. United States, and the issue involved when NIKA's debriefing ended. The COFC ruled for NIKA, but the United States has now appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. NIKA is not participating in the appeal, leaving the Department of Justice (DOJ) to go it alone. On December 9, 2020, the Federal Circuit heard an oral argument.

Background

A disappointed offeror protesting to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) can obtain a stay of contract performance pending a protest as long it files the protest by the later of "10 days after the date of the contract award," or "the date that is 5 days after the debriefing date offered to an

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