{"id":27401,"date":"2022-02-17T18:36:18","date_gmt":"2022-02-17T23:36:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adr.gov\/?page_id=27401"},"modified":"2022-02-17T18:36:18","modified_gmt":"2022-02-17T23:36:18","slug":"09-adalp","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/adr.gov\/guidance\/adrguide-home\/09-adalp\/","title":{"rendered":"The Advantages and Disadvantages to Agency-level Protests"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"fusion-fullwidth fullwidth-box fusion-builder-row-1 nonhundred-percent-fullwidth non-hundred-percent-height-scrolling\" style=\"background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0);background-position: center center;background-repeat: no-repeat;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;margin-bottom: 0px;margin-top: 0px;border-width: 0px 0px 0px 0px;border-color:#eae9e9;border-style:solid;\" ><div class=\"fusion-builder-row fusion-row\"><div class=\"fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-0 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-one-full fusion-column-first fusion-column-last\" style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy\" style=\"background-position:left top;background-repeat:no-repeat;-webkit-background-size:cover;-moz-background-size:cover;-o-background-size:cover;background-size:cover;padding: 0px 0px 0px 0px;\"><style type=\"text\/css\"><\/style><div class=\"fusion-title title fusion-title-1 fusion-title-text fusion-title-size-two\" style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:31px;margin-left:0px;\"><h2 class=\"title-heading-left\" style=\"margin:0;\">The Advantages and Disadvantages to Agency-level Protests<\/h2><span class=\"awb-title-spacer\"><\/span><div class=\"title-sep-container\"><div class=\"title-sep sep-double sep-solid\" style=\"border-color:#e0dede;\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"fusion-text fusion-text-1\"><p><strong><u>Advantages<\/u>:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><u><em><strong>Efficient Process with a Quick Decision<\/strong><\/em><\/u>. \u00a0An agency-level protest is much quicker than protests filed within other fora.\u00a0 A contracting officer is to make his or her best effort to render a decision within 35 days.\u00a0 In contrast, a protest submitted to the GAO can take up to 100 days, and a protest at the U.S. Court of Federal Claims can take even longer.<\/li>\n<li><u><em><strong>Informal Process<\/strong><\/em><\/u>. \u00a0An agency-level protest\u00a0permits the contractor and the contracting officer (or person at a level above the contracting officer) to engage directly with each other and have open communications using an informal process, rather than through the structured process of other fora.\u00a0 In other protest fora, the judge or the GAO attorney sets the schedule and will dictate how and when parties can exchange and submit information to each other and to the fora.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li><u><em><strong>Non-confrontational<\/strong><\/em><\/u>.\u00a0 An agency-level protest is intended to be informal and non-adversarial.\u00a0 FAR 33.103(b) encourages “open and frank” discussions between the parties.\u00a0 It is not intended to be\u00a0an adversarial, litigation-focused process like other protest fora.\u00a0 FAR 33.103(c) also encourages the parties to engage in\u00a0ADR to resolve the protest issues.<\/li>\n<li><u><strong><em>Automatic Stay<\/em><\/strong><\/u>.\u00a0 When a contractor files a protest, an automatic stay is initiated, provided the FAR requirements are met (i.e., the protest must be submitted within 10 days after contract award or within 5 days after a debriefing date offered to the protester if a timely debriefing date was offered to the protester in accordance with FAR 15.505 or FAR 15.506).\u00a0 Note, however, that the agency can override the stay when contract award or performance is necessitated by urgent or compelling reasons or it is in the best interest of the Government.\u00a0 An agency must comply with requirements set forth in FAR 33.103(f)(3) if it chooses to override the mandatory stay.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><u>Disadvantages<\/u>:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><em><u>No\u00a0Extension\u00a0for GAO Filing Deadline for CICA Stay<\/u><\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0 Pursuing an agency-level protest does\u00a0not extend the time for obtaining a stay at GAO.\u00a0 Agencies may include, as part of the agency process, a voluntarily suspension period when agency protests are denied and the protester subsequently files at GAO.\u00a0 <em>See<\/em>\u00a0FAR 33.104(f)(4).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div><div class=\"fusion-clearfix\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"parent":27194,"menu_order":8,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adr.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/27401"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adr.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adr.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adr.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adr.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27401"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/adr.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/27401\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adr.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/27194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adr.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}