Federal Circuit Provides Clues On Comp Contract Issue

US Court of Federal Claims judges have long been divided as to the standards that apply when reviewing an agency decision to override the automatic Competition in Contracting Act stay in response to a US Government Accountability Office protest. Those hoping the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit might clarify the standards for CICA override challenges may feel dissatisfied with its resolution of Safeguard Base Operations LLC v. United States.¹

Instead of reaching the merits, the Federal Circuit dismissed the appeal as moot in a nonprecedential decision. The panel agreed with the government and the awardee that Safeguard's appeal was moot because the GAO had denied its bid protest, which would have terminated the CICA stay even in the absence of a US Department of Homeland Security's override.² The Safeguard decision does, however, provide meaningful insight into the fate of future CICA override challenges: