[from the United States Government Accountability Office]
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) today issued the following legal decisions and opinions of the Comptroller General:
Bid Protest Decisions
B-422245.6 [archived PDF], Centuria Corporation, August 1, 2025
Centuria Corporation, a service-disabled veteran-owned small business (SDVOSB) of Reston, Virginia, protests the issuance of a task order to DecisionPoint Corporation, known at the time of proposal submission as EmeSec Inc., a SDVOSB of Gaithersburg, Maryland, under fair opportunity proposal request (FOPR) No. FA8773-23-R-0003, issued by the Department of the Air Force for defensive cyber realization, integration, and operational support services. Centuria argues that the Air Force conducted discussions with the awardee without affording it an opportunity to submit a revised proposal as required by Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) section 15.307(b).
We deny the protest.
B-423635 [archived PDF], Helgen Industries d/b/a DeSantis Gunhide, August 26, 2025
Helgen Industries, doing business as DeSantis Gunhide, protests the award of a contract to Safariland, LLC, under request for proposals (RFP) No. SHOP-PR-25-001520, issued by the Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), for concealment and tactical holsters. The protester contends that the awardee is an ineligible large business.
We dismiss the protest.
B-422666.2 [archived PDF], Perimeter Security Partners, LLC—Costs, August 8, 2025
Perimeter Security Partners, LLC (PSP), a small business of Brentwood, Tennessee, requests that our Office recommend that it be reimbursed for the costs of filing and pursuing its protest challenging the issuance of a task order to Low Voltage Wiring, Ltd. (LVW), a small business of Colorado Springs, Colorado, under request for quotations (RFQ) No. W912DY-24-R-0008, issued by the Department of the Army, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps), for preventative and corrective maintenance services for access control points at 19 Army installations in the northeast region of the United States. PSP argues that it should be reimbursed its protest costs because the agency unduly delayed taking corrective action in response to its clearly meritorious protest.
We grant the request.
Congressional Review Act
B-337397 [archived PDF], U.S. Department of Health and Human Services—Applicability of the Congressional Review Act to Policy on Adhering to the Text of the Administrative Procedure Act, August 27, 2025
On March 3, 2025, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published in the Federal Register a policy statement titled, Policy on Adhering to the Text of the Administrative Procedure Act (2025 Policy Statement or Policy Statement). The 2025 Policy Statement rescinds a prior policy generally requiring HHS agencies and offices to use Administrative Procedure Act (APA) notice-and-comment procedures for rules relating to public property, loans, grants, benefits, or contracts and establishes a new policy giving HHS agencies and offices discretion whether to use notice-and-comment procedures for such rules.
The Congressional Review Act (CRA) requires that before a rule can take effect, an agency must submit the rule to both the House of Representatives and the Senate, as well as the Comptroller General. CRA adopts the definition of “rule” under APA but excludes certain categories of rules from coverage. We conclude that the 2025 Policy Statement is a rule for purposes of CRA because it meets the APA definition of a rule, and no CRA exception applies. Therefore, the Policy Statement is a rule subject to CRA’s submission requirements.