On January 10, 2023, the Court of Federal Claims (COFC) issued the public decision of SLS Federal Services LLC v. United States, granting judgment for the disappointed bidder and enjoining the agency from proceeding with the contract awards because the agency (i) did not evaluate price reasonableness as the law and solicitation required and (ii) violated DFARS 215.306 by proceeding to award without adequately justifying the decision to forego discussions.1 The decision provides guidance on several bid protest legal developments.
For context, the high-value DoD acquisition involved a solicitation seeking to award multiple indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contracts for global contingency construction. The agency ultimately awarded contracts to six out of nine bidders based on initial proposals. One of the unsuccessful offerors filed a protest at the Government Accountability Office (GAO) challenging the award decisions on the grounds that the agency did not properly evaluate price reasonableness and the agency should have conducted discussions under DFARS 215.306(c). GAO dismissed the protest because the agency agreed to take corrective action after noting "'potential merit in [protester's] 'price reasonableness' argument."2 Nearly one year later, the agency announced that its awards would remain the same and the protester ultimately refiled its action with the COFC, alleging again the challenges to the price reasonableness evaluation and the lack of discussions.
The court made several notable findings. First, the court opined that an agency's agreement to take corrective action on an issue that the agency could have previously...
