Wright Brothers Aero, Inc. (B-423326.2)

You should not care.

Category: Timeliness, debriefing

Date: 7 July 2025

URL: https://www.gao.gov/products/b-423326.2

Wright Brothers Aero, Inc., protested the Defense Logistics Agency’s award of a jet fuel refueling contract at Dayton International Airport to Premier Jet Services DAY, LLC. The protest followed an earlier complaint and corrective action. In its latest filing, Wright Brothers challenged both the agency's evaluation of proposals and the DLA’s corrective action process, principally arguing that it received insufficient postaward communication and that a debriefing was not provided.

Untimely protest: GAO's bid protest regulations require protests (other than those based on solicitation improprieties) to be filed within ten days of when the protester knew or should have known of the basis for protest. Here, Wright Brothers had sufficient information by 15 April 2025, yet did not file until 25 May—significantly outside the ten-day window.

Debriefing (not timely requested): The protester argued that its delayed protest was justified because of an outstanding debriefing request. However, GAO found the request was submitted thirteen days after notice of award, well outside the three-day deadline for a “required” debriefing under FAR 15.506. Thus, the debriefing exception did not apply.

The protest was dismissed as untimely. GAO reaffirmed that disappointed offerors bear responsibility to act diligently on known protest grounds and cannot delay action while waiting for possible further agency communications or untimely debriefings.

Digest

Protest that agency unreasonably evaluated the awardee's proposal is dismissed as untimely where the protester filed the protest more than 10 days after the firm knew or should have known the basis of protest.