Bid Protest Season: Contractors Need To Be Aware of The Short Deadlines To File Bid Protests, and SBA Size and Status Protests
Football, pumpkin spice, and Halloween are not the only things to expect this upcoming fall season. With the federal government’s fiscal year ending on September 30, the next few months are sure to be a busy time for federal procurement and, inevitably, bid protests. Protests related to federal government procurements have strict and short deadlines that carry harsh consequences if they are not met. The following discussion examines the protest deadlines for the various venues in which government contractors often find themselves . In this alert, we summarize the deadlines for small business procurement programs associated with the Small Business Administration (SBA) and for merit-based protests related to the issuance of a government solicitation or the award of a contract. For procurements that are set aside under SBA’s programs, there are three key determinations that are often the subject of protests: size of the awardee, status of the awardee, and the North American Industr...