Florida Bid Protests and Government Procurement Law

Hello, I am Daniel Woodring, and this is a website by the Woodring Law Firm devoted to one subject: state and local government purchasing in Florida, and what a vendor can do when a procurement goes wrong. Florida procurement is one of the areas our firm concentrates on, and we set up a separate site so that we could cover bid protests in more depth than a single practice-area page allows and report on rulings worth knowing about. Please check out our blog for recent rulings.

Protest deadlines can be 72 hours. To talk with us about a Florida solicitation or award, telephone 850-567-8445 or send us a message with the form on this page.

Why Timing Decides Most Bid Protests

State of Florida purchasing requirements, and the bid protests that result, including challenges to invitations to bid (ITBs), requests for proposals (RFPs), and invitations to negotiate (ITNs), are a specialized area of the law, with timelines often measured in hours and not days, and million-dollar contracts at stake. A vendor that wants to protest a state agency’s decision must file a notice of protest within 72 hours after the decision is posted, and a formal written protest within 10 days after that (section 120.57(3), Florida Statutes). Often, by the time the final award of a contract is announced, it is too late to challenge it successfully: multiple earlier points of entry to challenge the specifications, or even another vendor’s responsiveness, may have been waived.

Our post on a major ITN ruling shows how this happens: a sophisticated vendor lost one argument after another because it waited for the notice of intent to award before objecting.

Start Before the Solicitation Is Released

This is why we encourage businesses, vendors, and bidders to start working with us early in the procurement process, even before the solicitation has been released. We often take the “the contract was awarded to someone else, can you help?” calls, and sometimes we can, but the earlier we are involved, the more help we can usually provide.

What a Bid Protest Protects

Florida’s purchasing law rests on fair and open competition. The Legislature calls it “a basic tenet of public procurement” and has found that such competition reduces the appearance and opportunity for favoritism and inspires public confidence that contracts are awarded equitably and economically (section 287.001, Florida Statutes). A bid protest is how a vendor holds an agency to that standard. The pages on this site explain what a protester must prove, and they cite the statutes, rules, and court decisions that set each test.

What You Will Find on This Site

• The Florida Bid Protest Process and Deadlines – each step, from the notice of protest to the final order, and the standard the judge applies
• Challenging Bid Specifications – objecting to the terms of a solicitation before responses are due, and what it takes to succeed
• ITB, RFP, and ITN – how Florida’s three solicitation methods differ, and what can be protested in each
• County, City, School District, and University Bid Protests – how the rules change outside state agencies
• Common Questions – short answers on deadlines, bonds, standing, and defending an award
• FL Bid Protest Blog – rulings and developments

Who We Represent

Our clients are companies that sell to government, from Florida businesses to national vendors. We represent protesters challenging an intended award, and intended awardees defending one. We advise vendors while they prepare bids, proposals, and replies, and we handle contract disputes after award and vendor suspension and debarment matters. We also advise Florida agencies and other public bodies on their own procurements, when we do not represent a vendor in the same procurement.

From Inside State Government

Mr. Woodring worked on state purchasing from the inside before he represented vendors. In the Executive Office of the Governor he was the lawyer chiefly responsible for major competitive procurements across the state agencies, working alongside the Department of Management Services, and the initial proposed statutory language for the invitation to negotiate was his draft. He went on to be General Counsel of the Florida Department of Education and then of the Florida Board of Governors, as that board’s first. Read more on the Attorney Information page.

A Statewide Florida Practice

We handle procurement matters throughout Florida. Protests of state agency decisions are heard by administrative law judges of the Division of Administrative Hearings; university, school district, county, and city protests are decided under their own procedures; and court review goes to Florida’s District Courts of Appeal or to the circuit courts, depending on the purchaser. Our office is in Tallahassee.

Talk to Us About a Florida Bid Protest

If a solicitation has been posted, an award is about to be announced, or a notice of intended award has already gone up, contact us right away: 850-567-8445 by telephone, Info@woodringlawfirm.com by email, or the form on this page.