Bid protests are up 22 percent from fiscal year 2022, according to a Government Accountability Office congressional report.
Released on Thursday, the report noted that the office received 2,025 total cases in FY 2023, which included 1,957 protests, 38 cost claims and 30 reconsideration requests.
The GAO sustained 31 percent of all protests, with the most common reasons for these decisions being unreasonable technical evaluation, flawed selection decision and unreasonable cost or price evaluation.
A considerable portion of the protests challenged a single procurement under the Department of Health and Human Services’ Chief Information Officer-Solutions and Partners 4 government-wide acquisition contract for information technology offerings.
Last year, only 1,658 protests were filed with the GAO, a 12 percent decrease from the previous year, in which the office received 1,897. This year’s increase is a step away from a years-long downward trend in the number of protests filed.