State Department easier fight than Pentagon for U.S. contractors

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/state-department-easier-fight-than-pentagon-for-us-contractors/2012/12/30/6c85bb9a-4f8e-11e2-8b49-64675006147f_story.html

Federal contractors win just 13 percent of protests against the Pentagon. Taking on the State Department, they are nearly four times as likely to prevail.

Protests are successful in about 19 percent of decisions that come before the Government Accountability Office, which arbitrates contract disputes, data provided by the office show. That rate varies greatly depending on which federal agency is defending the case, according to records that go back to 2006.

While companies base their decisions about whether to challenge a decision mainly on the facts of their case, they also consider an agency’s track record at the GAO, said Mike Mason, a partner at Hogan Lovells US.

“We all have our experiences with the different agencies, and we all have a sense as to which agencies typically do a better job than others,’’ he said.