Watching the Sunset: Anticipating Gao's Study of Concurrent Bid Protest Jurisdiction in the Cofc and the District Courts

Abstract:     
The 1970 D.C. Circuit ruling in Scanwell Labs. v. Shaffer, 424 F.2d 859, turned the issue of federal court jurisdiction over bid protest litigation into a legal experiment. Thirty years later, the putative sunset of statutory District Court jurisdiction, and a Congressional mandate that GAO undertake a comprehensive study of the need for concurrent jurisdiction, offered an opportunity to judge the success of this experiment. This brief paper reviews the history leading up to the GAO study; discusses how the protest regime helps ensure procurement integrity; critiques the scope and methodology of study; and, ultimately, argues that elimination of District Court jurisdiction hinders the opportunity of small businesses to challenge violations of federal procurement law.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 11

Keywords: Scanwell, protests, disappointed offeror litigation

JEL Classification: H57, K13, K23, K41

Accepted Paper Series