GAO's sustain rate dropped to 13 percent, the lowest level since Fiscal Year 2015.
TAKEAWAYS
- Protest activity at the GAO decreased by 16 percent over the previous year.
- GAO's sustain rate dropped to 13 percent.
- GAO's effectiveness rate remained at 44 percent.
On November 6, 2019, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) published its annual report on bid protest statistics. The GAO’s report, which is mandated by the Competition in Contracting Act, lists its key statistics for Fiscal Year 2019 bid protest activity. The GAO’s report also includes a chart providing similar bid protest statistics for Fiscal Years 2015-2019. This five-year snapshot provides some valuable insight into current bid protest trends and developments at the GAO.
Most notably, the total number of protests filed at the GAO dropped by 16 percent from the prior year. The GAO’s report also reveals that GAO’s sustain rate continues to drop - from 15 percent in Fiscal Year 2018 to 13 percent in Fiscal Year 2019 - the lowest rate since Fiscal Year 2015. The report indicates that the effectiveness rate, which is a combination of the protests where either the agency took voluntary corrective action or the GAO sustained the protest, remained at 44 percent. The report also demonstrates that the use of hearings is still infrequent, with the GAO conducting a hearing in only 21 cases in Fiscal Year 2019. Finally, the GAO’s use of alternate dispute resolution dropped significantly, to only 40 protests as compared to 86 protests in the prior year.
The GAO’s report also indicates that for the protests that were sustained on the merits during Fiscal Year 2019, the most prevalent reasons were: (1) unreasonable technical evaluation; (2) inadequate documentation of the record; (3) flawed selection decision; (4) unequal treatment; and (5) unreasonable cost or price evaluation. These most highly successful protest grounds are similar to those identified in prior years.
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