Bid protests are a fact of life for companies that participate in government contracts. Because government contracts generally are required to be awarded to the bidder meeting specific award criteria in the solicitation document, bidders generally may object to the selection of another bidder and claim entitlement to the contract award if the bidding and selection requirements are not strictly followed. Even where the award is to the highest scored or best value bidder, other bidders may protest the selection of the contractor and/or the procedure by which the contract was awarded. These bid protests generally occur on very short timelines, and may involve highly technical arguments. As a result, bidders and their counsel must be familiar with the protest process, laws governing procurements, and the latest protest issues and strategies, to have the best chance to successfully prosecute or defend a protest.

On October 7, 2016, Jennifer Dauer spoke about bid protest issues as part of a distinguished panel at the American Bar Association, Section of Public Contract Law, Fall meeting in Portland, Maine. The mission of the Section of Public Contract Law is to improve public procurement and grant law at the federal, state and local levels and promote the professional development of attorney and associate members in public procurement law. The Section seeks to improve the functioning of public procurement by contributing to developments in procurement legislation and regulations; by objectively and fairly evaluating such developments; by communicating the Section's evaluations, critiques and concerns to policy makers and government officials; and by sharing these communications with Section members and the public. Ms. Dauer is the Budget and Finance Officer of the Section of Public Contract Law.