Protesting Government Contract Bids

After putting a lot of effort and time, you can be lucky to win a government contract bid. However, a contender who did not win the contract or another incumbent who may have lost his coveted contract can protest your bid. When this happens, it is recommended that you contact a qualified bid protest lawyer. A bid protest lawyer will assist you in defending against the protested bid.

Bid Protest-Offense

If a contract bidder has confidence that the competitor has unfairly won a contract from the government through misrepresentation, it is recommended that you file a bid contrast. In such instances, the protesting lawyer can be of great help in filing a timely bid protest and litigate the contest based on the system of the federal court. The lawyer first has to review your case to find out if it has merit. If it has merits, then the lawyer will go ahead in helping you fight to secure back the contract bid that you had won.

A Bid Protest

A bid protest refers to a mechanism used by an aggrieved bidder to challenge a contract award given to another bidder. For the protest to get to the contracting officer, it can take different forms, including a formal letter, lawsuit, or an oral complaint. The majority of the contractors avoid being embroiled in litigation. Therefore, the best way to raise a protest to a contractor is by either a letter or an oral complaint. The three different levels of protesting for a bid include Lawsuits, Agency level, and Government Accountability Office(GAO) complaints. However, all protest begins at the agency level.

Before filling a bid protest at any level, the following requirements must be observed:

-you must be a prospective or actual bidder

-Make a timely filing

-File a protest only if there was a deficiency in the process of bidding

Why do you need to file a bid protest?

Bids protests are filed because of different reasons. Some bidders file protests when they fail to win a contract. They believe in overturning the whole contract process either to the award being given to them or receiving renewed requests for bidding for the contract. However, a contractor can file a bid protest to find out the information concerning the process of bidding. This is so that he/she can win the subsequent similar government contracts.

In the same way, a bid protest can be filed as a strategy of pursuing other future contracts of the government. A contractor maybe, in a real sense, not qualifying for a contract. Still, through bidding a protest, the government might be encouraged to widen its scope for proposals requests in the future. This might lead to the winning of the contract.

Wrap up

One thing that you should know is that filing a protest regarding a bid is a legal process. It should, therefore, involve an experienced bid protest lawyer. In a case where your company may have avoided hiring a lawyer during the bid preparation, it is important to consider hiring one during the protest phase.

When looking for a lawyer to help you file a bid protest, it is recommended that you bear in mind the complexity in government contracting laws. Seek a bid protest lawyer from a law firm with wide experience in administrative laws relating to government contracts.