Federal Bid Protests Affected By Government Shutdown

The shutdown of the federal government will delay review and action on bid protests for federal solicitations and contracts.  The Government Accountability Office (GAO), which is charged with managing the federal bid protest process, has issued the following guidelines about how the closure of GAO will impact the bid protest process:

• GAO is closed due to the shutdown of the federal government. This includes the GAO bid protest office. There will be no personnel monitoring protest filings at GAO during the time our Office is closed.

• GAO will endeavor to decide protests within 100 days of when they are filed. If necessary, decision deadlines will be extended one day for each day that GAO is closed.

• Any deadline for a protest filing from a private party that falls on a day that GAO is closed is extended to the first day that GAO resumes operations. This extension operates in the same manner as when a deadline falls on a weekend or federal holiday.

• Any deadline for an agency filing--such as an agency report or other filing requested by GAO--may, upon request, be extended by up to one day for each day that GAO is closed.

• Any new protest received by GAO during the time that GAO is closed will be treated as filed on the day that GAO resumes operations.

Filing Protests During GAO Shutdown:  GAO will accept new bid protests during the shutdown, but only via email. They will not receive any bid protests submitted via mail or fax during the shutdown.

Future delays:  It is anticipated that once the GAO resumes normal operations, there will still be a delay in GAO addressing bid protests as they get caught up from the impacts of the shutdown.

More information:  You can access more information and view the shutdown guidelines from the GAO here, or go to the website of General Counsel, P.S. to read more about the issue.

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