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Alert: COFC to Remain Open During Partial Government Shutdown
Today, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims ("COFC") issued a notice on its website stating that it will remain open with sufficient staffing to support its constitutional and statutory obligations, which includes its bid protest function under the Tucker Act. This is consistent with what I provided in my article last week, Bid Protests During a Partial Government Shutdown . As the COFC notice states, all proceedings – including bid protests – will take place as scheduled and

Joshua Duvall
17 hours ago1 min read
Alert: GAO Bid Protest Office to Remain Open During Partial Shutdown
Today, the Government Accountability Office ("GAO") issued a notice on its website and via its Electronic Protest Docketing System, or EPDS, stating that it will remain open during the partial government shutdown. This is consistent with what I wrote in my article last week, Bid Protests During a Partial Government Shutdown . As the GAO notice states, while deadlines are tolled for agencies that experience a lapse in appropriations, protesters are still required to meet al

Joshua Duvall
17 hours ago2 min read
GAO Rebukes Protester Over Hallucinated Citations, Reminds Firms of Risks of AI/LLM-Assisted Legal Practice
A recent decision from the Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) highlights a growing – and increasingly risky – trend in bid protest practice: the continued perfunctory use of artificial intelligence (“AI”) or large language model (“LLM”) tools to assist with protest filings. Protesters should heed this decision because it, once again, reminds industry that GAO reserves the right to issue sanctions where a protester's actions undermine the integrity of its bid protest pro

Joshua Duvall
20 hours ago3 min read
GovConJudicata Weekly Debrief (1/26–30)
This week's Weekly Debrief covers the partial government shutdown, space contracting, federal program fraud, and SBA's 8(a) program suspensions. Shutdown CBS News – What to know about the partial government shutdown as funding lapses for many agencies "Funding for many federal agencies expired at 12 a.m. on Saturday after Congress failed to pass half a dozen spending bills before the deadline, prompting a partial government shutdown. The funding lapse comes despite the Senate

Joshua Duvall
2 days ago2 min read
#GovConThoughts: Bid Protests During a Partial Government Shutdown
[My #govconthoughts series provides a quick take on recent developments in the government contracting space.] It appears that Congress may not be able to pass funding legislation for the six stalled appropriations bills by the end of the week, which means that a partial government shutdown is once again on the horizon. I recently provided a top-level overview for contractors on how to navigate the shutdown, including key legal considerations and practical guidance for dea

Joshua Duvall
6 days ago3 min read
Shutdown Woes: Key Legal Considerations and Guidance for Government Contractors
We are not even through January 2026, and a lapse in federal appropriations appears increasingly possible, raising the prospect of a partial government shutdown. Multiple funding bills – including for the Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of Health and Human Services – remain stalled. And while government shutdowns are nothing new, they can be confusing to navigate and present contractors, both large and small, with meaningful leg

Joshua Duvall
7 days ago5 min read
#GovConThoughts: SBA Publishes New 8(a) Guidance, Suspends Over 1,000 8(a) Firms
[My #govconthoughts series provides a quick take on recent developments in the government contracting space.] Today, the U.S. Small Business Administration ("SBA") published a news release announcing its new 8(a) Program guidance (and clarifications). As SBA notes, the guidance reiterates its view that " race-based discrimination within the 8(a) Business Development Program is unconstitutional and unlawful." The news release further states that SBA suspended over 1,000 8

Joshua Duvall
Jan 223 min read
DOJ Reports Record $6.8B in False Claims Act Recoveries for FY25
Last Friday, the U.S. Department of Justice ("DOJ" or the "Department") announced that settlements and judgments under the False Claims Act ("FCA") reached a record $6.8 billion in fiscal year 2025 ("FY25"). This total, the highest in the statute’s history, follows the $2.9 billion that DOJ recovered in FY24 , underscoring both a surge in whistleblower activity and the Department's continued emphasis on emerging areas of government program fraud beyond the healthcare sector

Joshua Duvall
Jan 204 min read
#Alert: Pentagon to Take Sledgehammer to 8(a) Program, Targeting Sole Source Contracts
In a late Friday news dump, U.S. Department of War Secretary Pete Hegseth posted a short video on X (f/k/a Twitter) announcing that the Pentagon will be taking a " sledgehammer to the oldest DEI program in the federal government—the 8(a) program." Effective immediately, the Pentagon will conduct a "line-by-line review" of all 8(a) sole source contracts over $20 million, "and we'll look at everything smaller than that, too." The watchword, according to Hegseth, is lethalit

Joshua Duvall
Jan 173 min read
The Fate of Protest(ia): GAO and COFC Bid Protest Data is Actually Romantic
The holiday season is in full swing and many of us are finding time for relaxation and family. For me, that’s meant light reading, cooking, cozying by the fireplace with movies, and listening to Taylor Swift songs on repeat with my daughter. With the downtime and Swift’s music still bouncing around my head, I thought it would be the perfect time to provide a fresh take on some recent bid protest data. Bid protests are an essential, yet often misunderstood, part of federal

Joshua Duvall
Jan 17 min read
GAO's FY25 Bid Protest Report to Congress Shows Protests are Down, Effectiveness Remains Steady
On December 12, the U.S. Government Accountability Office ("GAO") published its Bid Protest Annual Report to Congress for Fiscal Year 2025 . Required under the Competition in Contracting Act ("CICA"), GAO's bid protest report is noteworthy because it provides a peek into GAO's protest function, including key statistics and GAO's most prevalent grounds on which it sustained bid protests during FY25. [1] Below is a snapshot of the report, including four takeaways. Government c

Joshua Duvall
Dec 23, 20253 min read
Alert: Percipient.ai Files Supreme Court Petition in Bid Protest Involving Commercial Products and Interested Party Status
[My #govcon alerts provide a quick take on recent news in the government contracting space.] There is an interesting development for anyone following the Percipient.ai bid protest saga that was before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit over the summer (discussed, in part, here ) . Following the Federal Circuit's en banc decision (7-4) in late August, which affirmed the U.S. Court of Federal Claims’ dismissal of Percipient.ai’s bid protest for lack of s

Joshua Duvall
Oct 16, 20252 min read












