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January 12, 2021 By cs

Majority of FY20 protests find some success at GAO

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has released its Annual Report to Congress summarizing bid protest activity for Fiscal Year 2020.

The report shows that, in a unique year where COVID-19 altered procurement practices and priorities, protest activity at GAO was remarkably stable. Of note, GAO’s “effectiveness rate” this year topped 50 percent, meaning most protests resulted in some form of relief. The number of task order protests continues to increase, despite a modest dip in overall protests. Unsurprisingly, again there were very few hearings.

The chart below summarizes the GAO protest statistics from FY 2015 to FY 2020.

Keep reading this article at: https://governmentcontractsnavigator.com/2020/12/29/majority-of-fy-2020-protests-find-some-success-at-gao/

See the GAO’s full report here: https://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-21-281SP

January 6, 2021 By cs

Former NGO procurement official pleads guilty to bribery in connection with USAID contracts

A former non-governmental organization (NGO) procurement official pleaded guilty in late December to paying bribes to NGO procurement officers in exchange for sensitive procurement information related to NGO contracts funded in part by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

The USAID contracts were for the procurement of food and supplies that would ultimately be provided to those affected by various humanitarian crises, including refugees displaced by the conflict in Syria.

Ernest Halilov, 42, a citizen of Turkmenistan, pleaded guilty on Dec. 23, 2020 to one charge of federal programs bribery. Sentencing is scheduled for March 26, 2021.

According to admissions as part of his plea agreement:

From January 2011 through December 2016, Halilov coordinated a bid-rigging scheme to bid on contracts procured by NGOs and funded by USAID, to support the agency’s response to various humanitarian crises.
Specifically, Halilov bribed two NGO officers in order to obtain confidential procurement information, such as bid evaluation information, specifications, and internal vendor rankings.
In turn, Halilov would provide this information to his preferred companies in exchange for kickbacks, ensuring that the companies had an advantage over other bidders, thus increasing their ability to win NGO-procured contracts.
Halilov also admitted that he instructed a witness to lie to law enforcement agents and destroy emails related to the investigation.

USAID-OIG investigated this case.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/former-ngo-procurement-official-pleads-guilty-bribery

September 8, 2020 By cs

GAO affirms denial of protest by contractor who failed to submit an adequately written proposal

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently denied a protest brought by a contractor who failed to submit an adequately written proposal for the award of a federal contract.

In Patriot Defense Group, LLC (B-418720.3, August 5, 2020, 2020 WL 4501318), the decision breaks no new ground legally but it serves as a timely reminder of how failure to identify the assumptions upon which a proposal is based will yield a disappointing result.

The details of this case begin with the Request for Proposals (RFP).

The U.S. Special Operations Command issued a request for proposals for multiple indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contracts to provide a variety of professional, technical, management, and administrative services. The RFP recited that an award would be made to all “qualifying offerors,” defined as offerors that received a pass rating for administrative and responsibility matters, an acceptable rating for an IDIQ evaluation factor, and a substantial confidence rating for past performance.

Among other things, offerors were required to submit a minimum of three past performance information sheets for contracts which were relevant to each offeror’s ability to perform the work described in the RFP. Prior contracts were to be assigned past performance relevancy ratings. The RFP warned offerors that they were required to include a rationale supporting the assertion of relevance. They were also to describe in detail how the company’s past performance on each contract applies to the “relevancy criteria” identified in the RFP.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.mondaq.com/unitedstates/government-contracts-procurement-ppp/982362/gao-affirms-denial-of-protest-by-contractor-who-failed-to-submit-an-adequately-written-proposal

January 23, 2020 By cs

NDAA requires COs to provide information to unsuccessful offerors for task and delivery orders less than $5.5 million

The FY 2020 NDAA mandates the FAR be revised to require Contracting Officers to provide the rationale for award and other information to unsuccessful offerors for task or delivery orders.

Currently, FAR Part 16 only requires a debriefing be provided for task and delivery orders valued over $5.5 million.

The FY 2020 NDAA requires FAR Part 16 be revised to require that Contracting Officers provide information to unsuccessful offerors on contracts above the Simplified Acquisition Threshold but below $5.5 million.

This new information could prove invaluable for contractors hoping to gain insight and improve their proposals for future opportunities.

The annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) has long been used to impose government-wide procurement reforms. The recently enacted NDAA, signed by President Trump on December 20, 2019, continues this practice, by requiring agencies to provide unsuccessful offerors on smaller dollar task or delivery orders above the Simplified Acquisition Threshold an explanation as to why their proposal was unsuccessful as well as the rationale for the award.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/ndaa-requires-contracting-officers-to-30028/

January 10, 2020 By cs

After 2 years, JEDI is finally underway

The second year of competition for the Pentagon’s controversial cloud contract was as dramatic as the first.

The Pentagon’s high-profile Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) cloud contract is right back where it was one year ago: tied up in litigation.

The circumstances have changed in the past calendar year, with Microsoft winning JEDI in October and former favorite to win the contract, Amazon Web Services, protesting the decision in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.

At best, the Defense Department and Microsoft cannot begin work until at least mid-February, putting the Pentagon more than a year behind its initial schedule for JEDI. An internal JEDI strategy document released in November 2017 sought a JEDI award in fourth quarter of 2018 and migrations to the cloud platform by the beginning of 2019.

And yet, what unfolded in 2019 was high drama in the federal contracting world over an improbably high-profile government contract.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.nextgov.com/it-modernization/2019/12/after-two-years-jedi-finally-underway/162005/

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has released its Annual Report to Congress summarizing bid protest activity for Fiscal Year 2020.

A former non-governmental organization (NGO) procurement official pleaded guilty in late December to paying bribes to NGO procurement officers in exchange for sensitive procurement information related to NGO contracts funded in part by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently denied a protest brought by a contractor who failed to submit an adequately written proposal for the award of a federal contract.

The FY 2020 NDAA mandates the FAR be revised to require Contracting Officers to provide the rationale for award and other information to unsuccessful offerors for task or delivery orders.

The second year of competition for the Pentagon’s controversial cloud contract was as dramatic as the first.

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