Tiffany Hixson of the General Services Administration’s Federal Acquisition Service has described bid protests as an inevitable part of contract award processes, Nextgov reported Tuesday.
Frank Konkel writes GSA officials have noted that bid protests seem unavoidable despite efforts to engage industry throughout the lifecycle of a bidding process.
“I’m just resigned to the fact that this is how it’s going to be,†Hixson told an event hosted by the Association for Federal Information Resources Management, according to the report.
Hixson, regional commissioner of the Northwest Region, called on agencies and directorates to factor in protests period in their acquisition cycles and cited the OASIS conrtact vehicle as an example of a government procurement method that saw at least 20 protests despite industry engagement.
During the event, Hixson also released the government’s new professional services strategic plan for industry comment as part of GSA’s transition to a category management structure, Federal Times reported Thursday.
