1. A recent GAO limited the its ability to hear protests to agency noncompliance "with applicable procedures in its selection process or inconsistent with the solicitation criteria. Further, a successful protest must show that the failure to follow established procedures could have "materially affected the outcome of the cost comparison." The GAO will not consider protests that challenge A-76 policies or the government’s development of the MEO.

2. To challenge the cost comparison between the private sector and the MEO, the protester first must file an administrative appeal with the procuring agency and exhaust all administrative remedies. Challenges limited to the private sector competition need not require full exhaustion of remedies

3. Several GAO decisions have revealed problems with the A-76 process. During the private sector competition, best value rather than mere low price concerns often lead to offerings of innovative approaches that are technically superior even if lowest cost is sacrificed. To win the private versus public competition, however, recent cases have reinforced the prohibition of considering non-cost factors making sure that only lowest cost prevailed. As a result, the private firm may be proposing a solution that is not lowest cost while the government will be inclined to propose the bare minimum technical levels to ensure low cost, giving the government an advantage over the solution that originally was devised to win a best value competition.

4. In recent Courts decisions, federal employees have challenged decisions to outsource jobs that they could lose but most of the time they have been unsuccessful.

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