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Desk reference

Agency, GAO, COFC, SBA, and task-order protest forums

Forums for — agency, , Court of Federal Claims, SBA size/status, and limits.

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Agency protest, GAO, and COFC

FAR 33.103 provides a relatively informal agency-level protest process decided by the agency. GAO offers independent review on a statutory decision schedule and, when separate stay conditions are met, possible CICA performance-stay consequences. The Court of Federal Claims has bid-protest jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1491(b), but stopping performance requires court relief or Government agreement rather than an automatic . Each forum solves different problems — speed, stay potential, cost, or injunctive relief — and they are not interchangeable.

Watch for

Don’t treat COFC as a universal cure for missed or waived GAO grounds. Finishing every agency appeal does not automatically preserve a later GAO filing if GAO’s own timeliness rules were already blown.

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Task-order and SBA protest lanes

Qualifying protests of civilian task or delivery orders under multiple-award may be limited to GAO under FAR 16.505(a)(10) and 41 U.S.C. § 4106(f) — subject to statutory dollar and thresholds. Size and socioeconomic-status challenges generally belong in SBA’s procedures under FAR 19.302 and 13 CFR Part 121, not in an ordinary evaluation protest. Before drafting, confirm jurisdiction: evaluation error, size/status, or task-order lane.

Watch for

Don’t send ordinary evaluation protests to SBA, or size protests to GAO as if it made the initial size determination. Filing in the wrong window wastes the right one.

Further reading

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