Subcommittee on Government Operations Chairman Pete Sessions has announced a hearing titled "Bid Protest Reform: Understanding the Problem." The session aims to address concerns about the current bid protest process, which is designed to ensure fair and competitive government contracting. However, there are worries that some contractors may be exploiting loopholes by filing frivolous protests.
Sessions emphasized the need for reform in outdated federal acquisition policies from the Clinton era. He stated, "The bid protest process was designed to ensure that federal procurement is fair, competitive, and accountable to the American people. Unfortunately, what we are seeing today is a system being abused, resulting in higher costs and delayed projects that don’t benefit taxpayers."
The subcommittee's goal is to support ongoing efforts by the Trump Administration to reform these policies and prevent manipulation of the system. Sessions noted, "A key first step in doing so is really understanding the problems we’re trying to solve so that the solutions make sense."
The hearing will take place on Tuesday, July 22, 2025, at 10:00 AM ET in HVC-210 at the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center. Witnesses include Ken Patton from U.S. GAO, Christopher Yukins from GW School of Law, and Zach Prince from Haynes Boone. The event will be open to both public and press attendance and can be viewed online.
