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Lapse in Appropriations

Please note that a lapse in appropriations has caused GAO to shut down its operations. Therefore, GAO will not be able to publish reports or otherwise update this website until GAO resumes operations. In addition, the vast majority of GAO personnel are not permitted to work. Consequently, calls or emails to agency personnel may not be returned until GAO resumes operations. For details on how the bid protest process will be handled during the shutdown, please see the legal decisions page. For information related to the GAO Personnel Appeals Board (PAB), please see the PAB webpage.

NOTICE CONCERNING GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE (GAO) BID PROTESTS

  1. GAO is closed due to a lapse in appropriations.  This includes the GAO bid protest office.
  2. Beginning at noon on October 1, 2025, the Electronic Protest Docketing System (EPDS) will not be operational, and will be inaccessible during the time our Office is closed.  Accordingly, no protest-related documents may be filed or accessed through EPDS during the period of time that GAO is closed.
  3. GAO will toll protest decision deadlines for a period of time equal to the length of time that GAO is closed.   
  4. Deadlines for the filing of new protests that fall on a day that GAO is closed are extended to the first day that GAO resumes operations.  This extension operates in the same manner as when a deadline falls on a weekend or federal holiday.
  5. Because EPDS will not be operational and the parties will be unable to access protest documents during a shutdown, any other filing deadline for an agency or private party (to include supplemental protest deadlines) that falls on a day that GAO is closed is extended by one day for every day that GAO was closed.  For example, if GAO is closed starting on October 1, 2025, and reopens on October 6, an agency report due on October 3, would now be due October 8.

Bid Protests

A bid protest is a challenge to the terms of a solicitation or the award of a federal contract. For more than 100 years, GAO has provided an objective, independent, and impartial forum for the resolution of disputes concerning the awards of federal contracts. GAO's Procurement Law Division adjudicates these bid protests.

GAO now has a secure and easy-to-use web-based electronic bid protest filing system for all new protests (excluding those that include classified material) that are filed on or after May 1, 2018.

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Our Bid Protest Process

How does GAO handle bid protests? Listen to our podcast with Ralph White, Managing Associate General Counsel for Procurement Law, to find out.

Overview of GAO's Handling of Bid Protests
Transcript
Audio interview by GAO staff with Ralph White, Managing Associate General Counsel for Procurement Law.

Timeline of Bid Protest Process

Infographic showing the timeline between Protest filing and decision at day 100. Deadline for agency to file its report is Day 30. Deadline for the protester to file its comments is DAY 40.

GAO Contact

For questions about bid protests, email ProtestFinder@gao.gov or call our Procurement Law Control Group at (202) 512-4788.