Two recent decisions by the U.S. Government Accountability
Office (GAO), one of the forums that hears protests by disappointed
bidders for Federal Government contracts, highlight some of the
extra steps that buyers of businesses performing government
contracts may need to take before closing a deal.
A basic principle of Government contracting is that the
Government must evaluate offers it receives to determine whether
and how well the would-be contractor will meet the Government's
requirements. (Exactly how this evaluation will be done is
described in each solicitation's specific evaluation criteria.)
This process is meant to ensure the Government gets what it needs
at the price it wants to pay, and also to guarantee that meaningful
competition between offerors takes place. If an offeror could
propose one thing and do something else, the competition will not
have been fair and the Government's needs might not be met.
