The Government Accountability Office (GAO) and the Department of Defense (DoD) have issued new rules that make significant (er, somewhat significant) changes to the bid protest process.

GAO e-filing and new fees: GAO has instituted a spiffy new electronic filing system. Along with it came a spiffy new fee. It will now cost $350 to file a protest. As a general proposition, I have liked electronic filing because it eliminates the arduous and costly task of compiling paper pleadings and motions packages. E-filing also conserves space, saves trees, and is easily searchable. And, as an extra bonus, everyone in the case is instantly notified when you file something, whether it it be at noon or midnight. The EPDS does all that. Cool, right? Well, not so fast.

The GAO's filing deadline has not changed: if something is due, say, on a Tuesday, it's still due by 5:30pm. Sorry guys, no midnight filings. And, how about that instant notice thing? Well, yes, the system provides instant notification of a filing. For those who are seeking an automatic stay, you may be thinking wow, I might have a whole extra day and don't have to miss that Saturday afternoon soccer match after all. Hmmm. Nope. The rules still provide that GAO will provide notice to an agency within one day of the filing. Thus, if the system breaks down on the 5th day of the automatic stay window, the agency might not be notified of your email filing until the 6th day.

Bottom line: electronic filing is cool, it saves trees, provides notice of filings, etc., etc. But, protesters should keep doing what they've been doing: give yourself plenty of time for things to go wrong. And, oh yeah, that'll be $350 please. More info on electronic filing can be found here. The current bid protest regulations can be found here. The updated bid protest guide can be found here.

"Enhanced" debriefing: 

The 2018 National Defense Authorization Act directed DoD to implement a number of changes to provide offerors more information during the debriefing process. First, the NDAA requires DoD to release a redacted version of the written source selection award determination for all contracts valued over $100 million and small business procurements in excess of $10 million. The NDAA further directed DoD to provide debriefings for all procurements (i.e., contracts and task orders) valued at $10 million or more. This expands debriefing rights which have heretofore been limited to FAR part 15 (i.e., negotiated) procurements and task/delivery orders in excess of $5.5 million. Finally, the NDAA directs DoD to accept written questions submitted within 2 business days following a debriefing. The agency then is permitted 5 business days to answer the questions. DoD has since issued a class deviation that implements the written questions. Notably, the class deviation expressly states that the debriefing will not be considered complete for the purposes of triggering the 5 day period within which a protest at GAO will result in an automatic stay of performance until the questions have been answered. So, if you were still dreaming about that Saturday afternoon at the soccer field....  The class deviation can be found here.