Analysis of Government Accountability Office Bid Protests in Air Force Source Selections over the Past Two Decades

摘要

This technical report presents the findings of analyses of data on U.S. Air Force acquisition protests submitted to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) over the preceding two decades. It is part of a larger study of the Air Force's recent experience with bid protests that performed case study analyses of recent successful, high-profile bid protests and identified various lessons learned. RAND Project AIR FORCE (PAF) undertook this effort at the request of Gen Donald Hoffman, as former military Deputy to the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition (SAF/AQ); Lt Gen Mark D. Shackelford, SAF/AQ; and Roger S. Correll, then Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Contracting (SAF/AQC). These sponsors asked PAF to identify specific changes that the Air Force can make to both its source selection policies and processes for complex acquisitions so as to minimize incidents that often lead to successful protests. This research was conducted as part of a project titled 'Air Force Source Selections: Lessons Learned and Best Practices,' conducted during fiscal year (FY) 2009 within PAF's Resource Management program. To analyze the Air Force's bid protest experience, we used federal administrative databases of Air Force procurement and protest activity. We summarized trends and developed statistical models to identify factors contributing to protest activity and outcomes. The findings of these analyses should be of interest to those with direct responsibility for source selections and bid protests, as well as to policymakers working in these domains.