Kenneth Patton, Managing Associate General Counsel at the Government Accountability Office (GAO), brings clarity to a topic that’s often misunderstood: federal contract protests. Speaking with Francis Rose, he notes a surprising trend—protest filings are going down, not up. Over the past decade, filings have dropped 32% across the federal government and an even steeper 48% at the Department of Defense (DOD).
One major reason, Patton explains, is DOD’s enhanced debriefing process. This requirement gives losing bidders more detailed information about what they did well, where they fell short, and how the evaluation unfolded. Contractors can also ask follow-up questions. As a result, many companies decide they don’t have grounds to protest—especially when their main goal was simply to understand what happened. Some civilian agencies voluntarily offer similar briefings, but they are not required to.
Patton also addresses the “loser pays” idea, a recurring topic in Congress. This proposal would require unsuccessful protesters to cover costs if their case is denied. He recalls a past DOD pilot program intended to test the concept, which was repealed after the department failed to collect necessary data. For Patton, that’s the core issue—before reforming the process, lawmakers and agencies need solid data about how protests and corrective actions actually work.
He explains GAO’s effectiveness rate, which hovers around 50%. This measures the percentage of protests that result in some form of relief, whether GAO sustains the protest or the agency voluntarily takes corrective action. The latter is the most common outcome, as agencies often choose to fix an issue rather than wait for a GAO decision.
Patton underscores that protests make up a tiny fraction of total procurements—less than 1.5% at DOD over the past five years. This low volume helps explain why agencies don’t routinely collect detailed protest data. However, without that data, it’s difficult to identify the real causes of delays or inefficiencies.
GAO’s role, Patton says, is to serve as an independent referee, ensuring agencies follow procurement laws and regulations. While protests may extend timelines in some cases, they are only one small part of the overall acquisition process, which can span years.