Business and Legal Insights

Our authors explain why contractors should clearly identify the legal identity submitting a bid in this entry in the “Bidding Smarter in Florida” series.Read More

The Florida Division of Administrative Hearings (DOAH) recently issued a bid protest decision on an important procedural issue. In Cross Constr. Servs., Inc. v. Dep’t of Transp., No. 20-4214BID, 2020 WL 7425244 (Fla. Div. Admin. Hrgs. Dec. 14, 2020) (RO), ALJ Bogan found it was not arbitrary, capricious, or otherwise...Read More

Florida’s First District Court of Appeals recently held in State of Fla., Agency for Health Care Administration v. Best Care Assurance, LLC, 302 So. 3d 1012 (Fla. 1st DCA 2020) (“Best Care”), that a contractor who had been awarded a contract in a “multiple award procurement” lacked standing to challenge awards to...Read More

Our authors explain how and why contractors should use Florida’s Public Records Act to maximum effect in this “Bidding Smarter in Florida” series.Read More

The coronavirus pandemic is creating both opportunities and risks for Florida’s contractors. For example, on April 1, 2020 the Florida Department of Transportation announced that it will take advantage of nearly empty roads by accelerating work construction projects that have a combined value of nearly $2.1 billion...Read More

Contractors may have multiple solutions for their potential government client’s needs, but they miss out on sales by failing to tell this to the government. Our authors explain why contractors should submit alternative bids or proposals, and lays out a few guidelines for doing so.Read More

Contractors often hesitate to ask agencies the “hard questions” or challenge flawed solicitations when preparing their bids because they are afraid agencies will retaliate. Our authors explain why this is an unfounded fear and why contractors should stick up for themselves.Read More

Most of the posts we write on bid protests are written from the protester’s point of view. Recently, however, we were asked by a contract awardee whether he should intervene in a protest challenging his award. The short answer to awardees in that situation is “Yes, if keeping the contract is important to you.”Read More

Florida’s First District Court of Appeals just held in Asphalt Paving Sys., Inc. v. Anderson Columbia, No. 1D18-2035 (Fla. 1st DCA Feb. 18, 2019) that prospective bidders have standing to file bid protests challenging out-of-scope modifications to existing government contracts.Read More

Florida’s Third District Court of Appeals recently opened up whole new possibilities for Florida-county-level business incentives in Matheson v. Miami-Dade Cnty.Read More

The key to winning a Florida bid protest is to point out a specific, objective flaw that occurred during the evaluation of bids or proposals. Once in a while, however, the government’s award decision is so unreasonable that courts will overturn them for “getting it wrong.”Read More

In Florida, the government will frequently change the terms of its contracts, usually by adding or deleting the amount or work to be performed, by adjusting the manner of performance, or by making minor adjustments to the type of work to be performed. The government usually has the right to unilaterally do so under the terms of the...Read More

Clients and potential clients frequently come to us and complain about the low scores they’ve gotten from a Florida state agency (or the high scores their competitors got) that caused them to lose out on valuable contracts. Scoring issues, which are highly subjective, are the most difficult to prevail on in a bid protest. The...Read More

State of Florida Government Contractor’s Factoring Company May Enforce its Rights to Payment against Department of Transportation if it complied with Uniform Commercial Code.Read More

In the federal arena firms do not have a right to their competitors’ proposals or the agency’s evaluation documents, making it difficult to know whether or not an award to a competitor was proper. However, as our authors explain, it is possible to prevail in a bid protest with only information learned after the protest itself...Read More

If your business has been accused of violating a local law, check with your attorney as to whether you actually face liability, particularly if you established your business practices in accordance with a state law.Read More

If you ever find yourself in a Florida procurement where your competitor won the contract even though its proposal fails to meet a specific RFP criteria, you should probably take your shot and file a protest.Read More

In this final post on the timeliness requirements of filing bid protests before the GAO, we’ll examine the timeliness requirements in filing protests that include “comments” and “supplemental protests.”Read More

In continuing last week’s post on the timeliness requirements of filing bid protests before the GAO, today we’ll cover the difference between the deadline for filing a bid protest and the deadline for obtaining an automatic stay of a contract to a competitor.Read More

Our authors examine the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO)'s deadline requirements for a contractor submitting a challenge to the terms of an agency's solicitation in a procurement.Read More

Any company looking to do business with a government agency should know the implications of Florida’s broad public records law.Read More

The U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled in favor of veteran-owned small businesses (VOSBs), holding that the federal government must award VOSB’s contracts when there is a reasonable expectation that two or more will bid at fair and reasonable prices.Read More