Tuesday, April 19, 12 noon – online
In the conference report which accompanied section 886 of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2021, Congress called for the Defense Department to launch a new study of bid protests, to follow up on an earlier report by the RAND Corporation. Congress called for a new study to address:
- The rate at which protestors are awarded the contract that was the subject of the bid protest;
- The time it takes the Defense Department to implement corrective actions after a ruling or decision, the percentage of those corrective actions that are subsequently protested, and the outcomes of those protests;
- Analysis of the time spent at each phase of the procurement process attempting to prevent a protest, addressing a protest, or taking corrective action in response to a protest, including the efficacy of any actions attempted to prevent the occurrence of a protest; and
- Analysis of the number and disposition of protests filed within the Defense Department.
The conferees also emphasized “the potential benefits of a robust agency-level bid protest process.” The conferees further said that the study “should review existing law, the Federal Acquisition Regulation, and agency policies and procedures,” and should “solicit input from across the DOD and industry stakeholders.”
Further information on the study is available at https://publicprocurementinternational.com/congressionally-commissioned-bid-protest-study/.
The first of several public meetings will be held on the study on Tuesday, April 19, 2022 at 12:00 – 1:30 Eastern. Principal investigators David Drabkin and Christopher Yukins will discuss initial steps from the study, and will seek input on the questions posed by Congress, above. The meeting will be virtual and will not be recorded, and attendance is limited.
