The Government Accountability Office’s authority to review bid protests at most civilian agencies — for large task or delivery orders under indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract vehicles — has expired, FierceGovernmentIT reported last week.
That authority, for $10 million-plus orders on  ID/IQ contracts expired May 27.
The ability for GAO to review “broad protests,†filed by companies challenging the selection of vendors by federal agencies, was first enacted in the 2008 defense authorization act, FierceGovernmentIT reports. But the expiration date on that provision came late last month without Congress acting to preserve GAO’s protest authority for nearly all civilian agencies.
Earlier, Congress extended GAO’s bid-protest powers for the Defense Department, NASA and the Coast Guard. Civilian agencies were apparently left out likely because of an “oversight,†Fierce reports.
