When Agencies Should Settle for Less: Brand Name Bid Protests

U.S. agencies regularly tell prospective contract bidders that they must provide a certain brand name product in their proposals—or that only one supplier has the right item—resulting in some companies claiming to be unfairly excluded from competing.

A recent Government Accountability Office decision upholding a defense agency’s request for hollow pins used in Army helicopters made by Boeing Co. illustrates how agencies get leeway on brand name restrictions.

That pin restriction was reasonable because the government said it lacked adequate data, data rights, or both to purchase hollow pins from other sources, the GAO said in CM Manufacturing Inc., ...