Bid Protests Are Worth It!

So concludes an upcoming report by the former Dan Gordon, the former head of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy.

According to Gordon, among the pro’s of a bid protest are:

Protests introduce a relatively low-cost form of accountability into acquisition systems by providing disgruntled participants a forum for airing their complaints;

They can increase potential bidders’ confidence in the integrity of the procurement process if the GAO is directly responsive to participants’ complaints, leading more players to participate;

Protests can increase the public’s confidence in the integrity of the public procurement process; –The known availability of the protest avenue empowers those in contracting agencies who face pressure to act improperly;

Protest decisions made public provide a high level of transparency into what is happening in the federal procurement system; and

Protests provide guidance.

Contractors considering a GAO bid protest frequently grapple with whether the protest will hurt their chance for future contracts. The conclusion from this study seems to be that this is not a valid concern.  Could this report push even more contractors to protest bids with the GAO?