FY2025 NDAA Increases The Threshold For DoD Task Order Protests And Asks GAO And DoD To Explore Changes To Bid Protest Process

In the Fiscal Year 2025 National Defense Authorization Act ("FY25 NDAA"), Congress included some important provisions related to the bid protest process at the U.S. Government Accountability Office ("GAO"). These provisions (1) raise the dollar threshold for task order protests of Department of Defense ("DoD") procurements and (2) task DoD and GAO with exploring processes to make protesting DoD procurements more difficult.

Task Order Protest Jurisdiction

As a reminder, Congress has given GAO exclusive jurisdiction over protests of task order awards. 41 U.S.C. § 4106(f); 10 U.S.C. § 3406(f). Then, Congress established minimum dollar thresholds for such protests. Prior to the FY25 NDAA, the threshold for protests of task orders issued by civilian agencies was $10 million and protests of task orders issued by DoD was $25 million. FAR 16.505(a)(10). Now, Section 885 of the FY25 NDAA raises the dollar threshold for DoD task order protests from $25 million to $35