Bid Protest Attorneys

Court of Federal Claims Bid Protest Attorneys and GAO Protest Lawyers

Procurement contracting agencies do make mistakes/ We help to uncover those mistakes during bid protest litigation.

Protesting a government contract award and avoiding costly legal mistakes during litigation at the Court of Federal Claims (COFC), Government Accountability Office (GAO) comes at a price.

Failure to meet the procedural requirements and short deadlines can get the case dismissed without even getting to the merits.

When you file a government contract protest, you also must present a factual and legal basis for filing the case. Candidly, the agency does make mistakes during source selection or when posting the initial solicitation. Presenting the best legal arguments and exposing source selection mistakes can be a serious challenge to many government contractors.

With decades of experience actually working for the government and litigating government bid protests before the GAO and Court of Federal Claims, the government contract bid protest lawyers at Watson & Associates, LLCs understand the legal issues that can arise and how the government may try to defend against contractor bid protests filed at the various courts.

Meeting the government contract protest process requirements also requires you to meet short deadlines. Meeting the automatic stay requirements or filing a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) at the Court of Federal Claims can be challenging.

The arguments made to the judges and courts must be more than just a disagreement with the agency’s actions (many companies make this serious mistake.)

Pre Award and Post Award Bid Protests 

Whether you have a pre-award bid protest or post-award bid protest, our bid protest attorneys can help. The law firm has deep experience with the federal procurement process and the rules that source selection officials must follow: Here is a list of the types of bid protest cases we handle:

• Solicitation defects
• Unduly restrictive solicitations
• Lack of meaningful discussions
• Lowest price technically acceptable protests
• Sole source justification and awards
• Undisclosed government estimates
• Past performance evaluation government contract protests
• Responsibility and ethics integrity issues
• Best value and technical evaluations
• Price realism and reasonableness
• Agency corrective action
• Best value and trade-offs
• COFC appeals to the Federal Circuit Court
• SBA certificate of competency bid disputes

Some of our government contract protest attorneys have actually worked in federal contracting agencies and are in a unique position to advocate on your behalf. Get a Free Initial Consultation Today. Call Toll Free 1-866-601-5518.

Agency Level Bid Protest Law Firm

When the source selection team makes a flawed award decision, our bid protest lawyers work with our clients to file appropriate agency level protests. If the error is obvious, sometimes the agency will sustain the protest without having to spend thousands of dollars in unnecessary litigation.

GAO Bid Protest Lawyers

Watson & Associates government protest lawyers help contractors to assess and analyze the agency award to see whether there is merit to filing a GAO bid protest. Protesting a government contract award at the GAO shows that the agency generally prevails because the contracting cannot overcome the reasonableness standard and great deference that GAO gives the agency. Whether you have a pre-award protest or post-award protest, you must still meet the short deadlines.

Court of Federal Claims Bid Protests

The government contract protest process allows you to file a bid protest at the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in two common situations. (1) after GAO has given an adverse ruling (contractors can still file a new protest at the COFC). (2) Our government contract protest attorneys can directly file a Court of Federal Claims case without going to GAO or the Agency. There is no automatic stay. However, the protest letter will also include a request for. Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) which, if successfully argued, will still have the same result as the CICA stay.

Government Contract Protest Lawyers – Bid Protest Appeals (Court of Appeals for Federal Circuit Lawyers)

When you file a bid protest at the Court of Federal Claims, if the court issues an adverse decision, you can appeal the decision to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

This type of bid protest appeal is not intended to relitigate the merits of the case. Instead, you must show where the lower court committed legal and reversible error.

At Watson & Associates, our government contract protest lawyers and federal circuit court bid protest appeal attorneys represent government contractors at this level where the stakes are high and there may be a serious legal error in the lower court’s record.

Clear Direction and Trusting Legal Advice

At Watson & Associates, our government contract bid protest attorneys frequently work with high-level executives and interested parties to develop a sound and effective legal strategy that minimizes the chances of getting an adverse result.

• We explain the strengths and weaknesses in the case and help executives to make a sound business judgment decision. 

Bid protest filing deadlines

Many government contract protest litigants spend thousands of dollars arguing whether the protest is untimely or not. Basic bid protest regulations state that if your bid protest challenges the contents and improprieties in the agency’s solicitation then your deadline is before bid opening or before the time set for receipt of initial proposals. See 4 CFR 21.2(a)(1).

Bid protest filing timelines in all other cases state that the case must be filed not later than 10 days after the protester knew or should have known the basis of protest (whichever is earlier), with the exception of protests challenging a procurement conducted on the basis of competitive proposals under which a debriefing is ‟requested and, when requested, is required,” that is, a debriefing required by law. See also information about SDVOSB bid protests.

• If you have timely requested a “required debriefing” then you must file your initial protest no later than 10 days after the date on which the debriefing was held. See 4 CFR 21.2(a)(2).

Contact Watson’s Government Contract Protest Attorneys

To discuss your situation or to protest federal government contract awards with one of the best bid protest law firms that understand small business issues, call Watson & Associates’ COFC and GAO government contract bid protest attorneys at 1-866-601-5518. We represent clients in all states and overseas.