Government Accountability Office Fiscal Year 2024 Bid Protest Statistics Return to Normal

Most notably, the GAO’s report reveals that its protest statistics have returned to the levels for the years prior to the boosted statistics in FY 2023. The GAO’s protest statistics for FY 2023 were significantly increased due to an usually high number of protests successfully challenging a single procurement, as discussed in a previous client alert, but the FY 2024 report indicates that these statistics have decreased to reflect the percentages from prior years.

Although the GAO’s sustain and effectiveness rates are significantly reduced from FY 2023, they both increased modestly compared to FY 2022. The GAO’s sustain rate decreased from 31 percent in FY 2023 to 16 percent but increased from 13 percent in FY 2022. The GAO’s effectiveness rate, which includes protests that resulted in either voluntary agency corrective action or a GAO decision sustaining the protest, also slightly increased from 51 percent in FY 2022 to 52 percent.

The GAO also reported that the number of cases settled through alternative dispute resolution (ADR) increased slightly to 76 in FY 2024 from 69 in FY 2023. The ADR success rate also increased slightly, to 92 percent in 2024 from 90 percent in 2023. The GAO substantially decreased the number of hearings it conducted from 22 hearings conducted in FY 2023 to only one in FY 2024.

Finally, the report states that the most prevalent reasons for the GAO to sustain a protest in 2024 were (1) unreasonable technical evaluation, (2) flawed selection decision, and (3) unreasonable cost or price evaluation. Notably, all three protest grounds on this FY 2024 list also were the three most highly successful protest grounds in FY 2023.