A contract protest refers to the challenging of a proposed award or an awarded contract for procurement or any other service provision. In terms of government contracting, it refers to the challenging of contracts awarded to the public or other private companies without due bidding processes as provided for by the law. According to Upcounsel.com (2021), Government contracts both on the federal and state levels as well as most other company contracts often have a particular protocol with standards and steps that are used to regulate the acceptance and award of contracts. Such standards are developed from created statutes as well as precedent case laws and are majorly for ensuring fairness in business dealings between the government and private and public companies. The standards and regulations are often also adopted to ensure impartiality in the final decision of awarding contracts. Such impartiality often occurs on account of graft or favoritism.
Contract protests are often initiated by interested parties when they believe there has been a violation of the standards and or procedures and regulations governing the award of such contracts. Contract protests however can also be initiated for a host of many other reasons including defective solicitations or bids. Kluwer (2020) highlights that bid defects such as omissions of specified requirements and provisions, indefinite or ambiguous evaluation factors, and restrictive specs have also been reasons for contract protests. This in addition to incidents of contract termination, especially if the termination is based on improper ties experienced during the award of the contract.
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According to Kluwer (2020), a contract protest is often filed or initiated by an 'interested party' alluding to an individual bidder whose direct economic interests are affected by the award of or failure to award a contract. In a government contracting situation, this would include any other of the bidders who were invited to and applied for a respective project or program. For instance, any of the bidders who applied for an infrastructure development project announced to the public by the government but failed to receive the award despite their adequate qualification. In some instances, and locations, any member of the public provided sufficient reason to initiate protest on a government contract can also initiate the process, especially if the award or lack of award of the contract impacts their lives directly.
The contract protest process is significantly important to government contracting as it provides a way for ensuring equal and fair awards of contracts to the most deserving bidders. The protest process also allows everyone a fair chance to appeal for fair play and ensure all standards and regulations are followed for the ultimate good. Grenadier (2013) highlights that while the contract protest process costs significant amounts of money its benefits including ensuring accountability, transparency as well as education, and protection of the integrity of the countries acquisition system outweigh the cost and illustrate how important it is to government contracting. The process also helps to effectively protect the rights of the taxpayers and other stakeholders who invest in government projects and deserve to be served by the best
References
Grenadier, M. (2013). The Benefits of Bid Protests . Project On Government Oversight. Retrieved 14 June 2021, from https://www.pogo.org/analysis/2013/04/benefits-of-bid-protests/ .
Kluwer, W. (2020). Your Right to Protest and Dispute a Government Decision Regarding a Contract . Wolterskluwer.com. Retrieved 14 June 2021, from https://www.wolterskluwer.com/en/expert-insights/your-right-to-protest-and-dispute-a-government-decision-regarding-a-contract .
UpCounsel. (2021). Government Contract Protest Process: Everything to Know . UpCounsel. Retrieved 14 June 2021, from https://www.upcounsel.com/government-contract-protest-process.
