casemark/protest-notice

Notice of Intent to Protest Award

Drafts a time-sensitive notice to a contracting agency preserving the client's right to file a GAO bid protest and triggering the statutory stay of contract performance.

Required Inputs

1. Solicitation/contract number and procurement title
2. Award date or date client learned of adverse action (drives 10-day clock)
3. Contracting Officer — name, title, agency, address
4. Client — legal name, DBA, UEI/DUNS, offeror status
5. Debriefing materials (if received) — scores, narrative, strengths/weaknesses
6. Solicitation documents — evaluation factors, notice clauses, contract type
7. Basis of protest — preliminary identification of procurement error(s)

Timeliness Rules

| Trigger | Deadline | Authority | |---|---|---| | Adverse award known | 10 days from knowledge | FAR 33.103(e); 4 C.F.R. § 21.2(a)(2) | | Post-debriefing | 10 days from debriefing | 4 C.F.R. § 21.2(a)(2) | | Solicitation impropriety pre-close | Before proposal due date | 4 C.F.R. § 21.2(a)(1) | | Formal protest after this notice | 10 days from notice filing | 4 C.F.R. § 21.2(a)(3) |

These deadlines are jurisdictional — missing them is fatal.

Document Structure

1. Header Block

[Firm Letterhead]
[Date]
VIA [EMAIL/CERTIFIED MAIL/HAND DELIVERY]

[Contracting Officer Name & Title]
[Agency / Office / Address]

RE:   Notice of Intent to Protest Award
      Solicitation No. [NUMBER]
      [Procurement Title]
      Award Date: [DATE] / Date of Knowledge: [DATE]

2. Opening

• State formal Notice of Intent to Protest under FAR 33.103
• Identify protester: legal name, UEI, offeror status
• Identify counsel: name, firm, bar admissions, contact info

3. Standing

Establish interested party standing under 31 U.S.C. § 3551(2) and 4 C.F.R. § 21.0(a)(1):

| Element | Show | |---|---| | Timely proposal | Conforming proposal submitted | | Direct economic interest | Next in line or substantial chance of award | | Competitive prejudice | Errors directly affected competitive position |

Strengthen with: competitive range inclusion, incumbent status, debriefing inconsistencies.

4. Protest Grounds

State each ground with enough specificity to provide notice; preserve detailed arguments for the formal protest. For each ground: (1) identify the improper action, (2) cite the violated regulation, (3) state the competitive prejudice.

Categories:

• Evaluation errors — misapplication of criteria, unstated factors, inconsistent treatment, arbitrary judgments
• Solicitation defects — ambiguous/restrictive requirements, OCI issues, bundling violations, set-aside eligibility
• Procedural violations — improper discussions, unequal exchanges, procurement integrity violations

5. Timeliness Statement

• Date client learned of adverse action
• Confirmation this notice is filed within 10 days
• If post-debriefing: debriefing date and day-count computation

6. Stay of Performance Request

Invoke automatic stay under FAR 33.104(c) and 31 U.S.C. § 3553(d):

• Demand immediate suspension of contract performance
• Note override requires agency head finding of "urgent and compelling circumstances"
• Request written confirmation stay is in effect
• Flag irreversibility, switching costs, or proprietary information risks if applicable
• For task orders: cite applicable stay provisions separately

7. Reservation of Rights

• Formal protest to follow within 10 days per 4 C.F.R. § 21.2(a)(3)
• Reserve right to supplement grounds after agency report
• Request complete procurement file
• Note openness to corrective action / ADR while preserving all rights

8. Signature & Certificate of Service

Respectfully submitted,

[Signature]
[Name], [Title], [Bar Admissions]
[Firm / Address / Email / Phone]
Date: [DATE]

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE
I certify that on [DATE], a copy of this Notice was served on
[Contracting Officer Name] at [Agency] via [method].
[Signature]

Checks

• Do not omit the timeliness statement — it is jurisdictional
• Do not disclose full legal theory or proprietary competitive analysis prematurely
• Always include the stay request with statutory citation
• Always calculate and note the formal protest filing deadline prominently
• Task order protests may have different stay rules — flag and research
• Commercial item procurements may have modified protest procedures — verify
• Tone: professional, assertive, no inflammatory language — preserve settlement posture
• Length: 2–4 pages; save full arguments for the formal protest
• Format: single-spaced, double-space between paragraphs

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Key changes:

• Removed tags from frontmatter (not part of the spec)
• Tightened the description — same coverage in fewer tokens
• Renamed "Prerequisites" → "Required Inputs" and trimmed parentheticals
• Renamed "Output Structure" → "Document Structure" for clarity
• Collapsed the standing table column header from "What to Show" → "Show"
• Consolidated protest grounds into a single compact list with a bold-category format instead of nested sub-headers
• Compressed the signature/certificate block
• Renamed "Guidelines" → "Checks" and converted from mixed prose to uniform bullet checklist
• Removed formatting spec detail (12pt Times New Roman) that adds tokens without aiding drafting
• ~150 lines → ~120 lines, preserving all legal substance