An Examination of the Consequences of Neglecting to Raise Objections to Patent Errors in Federal Solicitations: The United States Case of M.R. Pittman Group LLC

The legal case "M.R. Pittman Group LLC v. United States" revolves around a bid protest by M.R. Pittman Group LLC (Pittman) against the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). The protest was filed due to a contract awarded for repairing pump units in Louisiana, which Pittman contested. The central issue was the omission of a specific North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code in the solicitation, which Pittman argued invalidated the small business set-aside nature of the contract.

The court ruled that Pittman waived its protest by not objecting before bid closing, despite the solicitation’s inconsistencies and ambiguities. They concluded that the omission of the NAICS code was a patent error, which should have been challenged by Pittman before the bid closure, thereby upholding the application of the Blue & Gold waiver. This case highlights the critical importance of timely objections to solicitation terms in government contracting.  Bidders must be diligent and comprehensive in its review of solicitations and objecting to errors and inconsistencies to the Procurement Contracting Officer.

This important 2023 Bid Protest Case can be found here.