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Brought
to you courtesy of The Whay Law Firm:
Immediately
after
receiving notice of a protest, the
contracting agency is required to notify
the awardee (in post-award protests) or
all offerors who have a reasonable
prospect of receiving award if the
protest is denied (in pre-award
protests).
If you fall within one of the foregoing
groups, you have the right to intervene
the protest.
Intervening
in a protest is vital. A protest
raises the risks that the GAO will grant
the protest, as well as the contracting
agency may decide to take corrective
action before the GAO makes any
decision. By intervening, you have
the opportunity to present your
arguments to the GAO and the contracting
agency regarding why the protest
allegations are meritless or should
otherwise be dismissed.
Another
important reason to intervene is that
you may lose the right to raise issues
later if those issues were addressed or
could have been addressed during the
protest. This rule encourages
efficiency by avoiding a piecemeal
approach to protesting multiple times
for issues which could have been
resolved in a single protest.
It
is likely that the protest will be
subject to a protective order.
The protective
order will limit access to confidential
and competitive information to persons
admitted by the GAO under the protective
order. You will not be permitted
to see the protected information accept
through legal counsel (often in-house
legal counsel will not be admitted under
the protective order).
You
should promptly speak with an attorney
when you receive notice that a GAO
protest has been filed.
Timely guidance and response to the
protest is important to avoid the GAO or
the contracting agency from taking
action which is adverse to your company.
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