Experts tell Oversight subpanel bid protests are working but data gaps hinder reform

The House Oversight and Reform Committee's Subcommittee on Government Operations and the Federal Workforce heard from three procurement experts about possible reforms to the federal bid protest process at a hearing that opened with the subcommittee's chairman describing the scale of federal contracting and the need to preserve taxpayer confidence in procurements.

Kenneth Patton, managing associate general counsel at the Government Accountability Office, told the panel that GAO resolves more than 1,000 protests each year and generally finishes protest decisions within 100 calendar days. He said the number of protests filed at GAO has fallen about 32% over the past decade and DOD protests have fallen about 48%, even as GAO's effectiveness rate'the share of protests that result in agency corrective action or a GAO ruling sustaining the protest'has remained near 50%.

"Consistent with this authority, GAO resolves more than 1,000 protests every year, all within 100 calendar days," Patton said. He also described language in section 885 of the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2025 directing GAO to examine enhanced pleading standards and to try to estimate the costs of protests to…