With the President's Signature, FY25 NDAA Increased GAO's Task Order Jurisdictional Threshold

On December 23, 2024, President Biden announced that he signed into law the “Servicemember Quality of Life Improvement and National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2025” (the "FY25 NDAA"). As the announcement states, the FY25 NDAA "provides vital benefits for military personnel and their families, and includes critical authorities to support our country’s national defense, foreign affairs, and homeland security." As expected, the bill includes a host of provisions that impact government contractors, including bid protests.

Regarding bid protests, Section 885, among other things, amended Title 10, U.S. Code, to increase the jurisdictional threshold for certain protests before the Government Accountability Office ("GAO"). Specifically, Section 885 increased to $35 million (up from $25 million) the jurisdictional threshold for GAO bid protests of task orders under a DOD, Coast Guard, or NASA indefinite delivery indefinite quantity ("IDIQ") contract. This means that unless the value of the DOD, Coast Guard, or NASA task order exceeds $35 million, GAO will not have jurisdiction to hear the protest unless the protest alleges that the order increases the scope, period, or maximum value of the underlying IDIQ contract.

Notably, because the FY25 NDAA only amended Title 10 (and not Title 41), the jurisdictional threshold for task orders under civilian agency IDIQ contracts remains at $10 million.

. . .

#govcon