All Bid Protests Must Be Submitted Online Starting in May

Vendors that don’t like the results of a contract award will have to go online to take up their beef up with the Government Accountability Office starting next month.

GAO on Thursday announced its plans to launch the electronic bid protest docketing system, a web portal where groups can securely file protests to federal contract awards. Vendors will be required to submit all new protests through EPDS beginning May 1.

“This new system modernizes the bid protest process at GAO and will make it a much more efficient process,” said Comptroller General Gene Dodaro, who heads the congressional watchdog agency, in a statement.

The system also promises to increase transparency into what can otherwise be a somewhat cloudy process. Relevant agencies and vendors will get an instant alert every time a protest is submitted, and the system will allow those parties to follow that challenge through each step of the procedure, said Ralph White, the GAO’s managing associate general counsel for procurement law.

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