Top 5 GovCon Stories | November 2, 2026 – November 8
1. GAO upholds security-clearance requirements at proposal submission October 30 | GAO In Sawdey Solution Services, Inc., GAO rejected a challenge to an Air Force solicitation requiring offerors to hold a TOP SECRET facility clearance with SECRET safeguarding capability when submitting proposals. GAO found the requirements reasonably related to the agency’s immediate classified-performance needs....
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When Agencies Move Work to the Wrong Contract Vehicle: Ares Enterprise, LLC is a Treat for Government Contracting Nerds
Article by: Tyson Marx, Partner If you follow GAO bid protest decisions the way some people follow sports (*ahem, Mary Pat Buckenmeyer*), you recently were treated to a good one. Ares Enterprise, LLC, B-424548 et al., is one of those decisions that manages to touch just about every hot-button issue in the federal procurement...
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Why Government Contractors Shouldn’t Let AI Write Their Bid Protests: A Bid Protest Isn’t a Writing Exercise, It’s a Series of Judgment Calls
Article by: Mary Pat Buckenmeyer, Partner In my practice, I’m seeing this pattern more often: a contractor loses an award, opens an AI chat, and asks it to draft a bid protest. I get it, it’s fast, cheap, and it’s amazing how polished the output can be. But watching this play out over the...
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Court of Federal Claims determines that it has bid protest jurisdiction over a pre-award protest for failure to award a Phase III SBIR.
Article by: Ryan Bradel, Partner On July 24, 2026, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims issued an opinion affirming its broad jurisdiction over bid protests of Small Business Innovative Research (“SBIR”) procurements. This decision was especially significant in that it cut new snow on the question of whether the Court of Federal Claims had jurisdiction over pre-award protests of the government’s failure...
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GAO Sustains Protest of VA’s Past Performance Evaluation—Agencies Must Use the Evaluation Criteria Present in the Solicitation
Article by: Tyson Marx, Partner An agency’s failure to follow the evaluation criteria present in a solicitation remains one of the most successful protest grounds at GAO. On July 10, 2026, GAO sustained the protest of Veterans Management Services, Inc. (VMSI) on the basis that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) failed to follow...
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Let Your Mentor-Protégé Agreement Lapse, Lose the Set-Aside: Lessons From A Difficult Court Decision
Article by: Ryan Bradel, Partner Most small business government contractors know the general rule cold: a company’s size for a small business set-aside is determined as of the date of its initial offer. But there are critical exceptions. The most impactful is the one for mentor-protégé joint ventures. Under a rule SBA crafted in...
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