November 2016 Protest Roundup

In November, the Government Accountability Office ("GAO") and the U.S. Court of Federal Claims ("COFC") published a good number of decisions. We address below decisions on the following issues of interest: (1) task orders versus contracts; (2) Government's duty to inquire or clarify; and (3) post-protest Agency action.

Kingdomware Technologies Does Not Hold that Task Orders Are Contracts For All Purposes

• Great Southern Engineering, Inc. v. United States, No. 16-975C (Fed. Cl. Nov. 4, 2016).

Sometimes, it's not you, it's the solicitation. That's perhaps the best summary of Great Southern Engineering v. United States. The protest involved a solicitation issued by NASA, and the protest centered on the question of whether past performance information from performance of multiple task orders under one contract is comparable to past performance information from performance on separate contracts. Protester contended that in the wake of the Supreme