Florida Procurements & Bid Protests

If you are a vendor that does business with Florida state agencies or other governmental entities such as school boards or state universities, or a business that would like to secure competitively procured contracts from governmental agencies anywhere in Florida, the Woodring Law Firm can provide legal advice and counsel to help you comply with the myriad procurement statutes, rules, and policies. We also provide legal advice to Florida agencies to help them through important procurements if we are not representing a private business in the procurement. And we represent national and local Florida businesses in bid protests, specification challenges, and other administrative and civil litigation involving governmental procurement, such as breach of contract disputes.

To discuss a procurement or bid protest anywhere in Florida, call 850-567-8445 or use the contact form on this page.

Procurement Experience

Mr. Woodring has significant experience with state procurements and bid protests at Florida agencies. While counsel in the Executive Office of the Governor, he had primary responsibility for working with the Department of Management Services on significant competitive procurements at all of Florida’s state agencies. He also worked with the Florida Legislature to revise chapter 287, Florida Statutes, and in fact drafted the initial proposed statutory language that created the invitation to negotiate (ITN) process.

Since then he has advised vendors and agencies and litigated many procurements, ranging in size from a few million to hundreds of millions of dollars. He has also worked with procurements at the state, university, and school board levels of Florida’s educational system. In 2011 we litigated an ITN protest that knocked out the award of a major contract to Microsoft in favor of a local software company, Infinity Software, and received the first reversal on the merits of an agency award in an ITN protest at the Division of Administrative Hearings (DOAH).

We handle procurements conducted by invitation to bid (ITB), request for proposals (RFP), and invitation to negotiate (ITN), as well as state term contracts, single-source purchases, and county and municipal procurements. We also handle vendor suspension and debarment matters.

Why Involve Counsel Before the Award

We are happy to talk to you about handling a bid protest to either protect or challenge a notice of intent to award, but we add more value when engaged to work on a governmental procurement from the start. Our early assistance includes:

• Evaluating the bid specifications, and challenging them or requesting clarification as needed
• Making sure that legal restrictions on contacts with governmental entities are followed and do not disqualify a vendor from even being scored
• Working with the vendor to make sure the bid package meets all the mandatory requirements
• Strategic advice on all options

Nothing is more disappointing than putting the time and money into responding to a sophisticated proposal, and never making it into the final negotiation or evaluation. Unfortunately, this happens fairly frequently. We worked on a large Citizens Property Insurance Corporation procurement in which one-third of the vendors were disqualified before the evaluation even began.

Bid Protest Deadlines Are Short

Another reason to consider retaining us before you receive the notice of intent to award is the early and tight deadlines. Significant deadlines, such as the requirements to file a challenge to bid specifications, to file a notice of intent to protest, or even to file a complete protest in some bid categories, are as short as 72 hours (section 120.57(3), Florida Statutes). And if there were problems with the bid specifications, but you did not challenge them before the notice of intent to award, or ask clarifying questions and challenge the answers if troubling, you have usually waived the right to raise those legal arguments in the bid protest. Even the normal filing of your completed protest usually has to happen within 10 days, and a protest of a state agency award generally requires a bond equal to 1 percent of the estimated contract amount. We work with tight turnarounds – some of the cases we have worked on at the Florida Supreme Court have had 24-hour deadlines for writing and filing entire briefs – but you are better served if we have more time to fully understand the dynamics of your bid and your competition.

Talk to Us About a Procurement or Bid Protest

Please contact us if we can help you prepare a proposal for governmental procurements, specification challenges, bid protests, or governmental contract disputes. Call 850-567-8445, email Info@woodringlawfirm.com, or use the contact form on this page.

Common Questions About Procurements and Bid Protests

Does Woodring Law Firm handle bid protests throughout Florida?

Yes. We represent national and local Florida businesses in bid protests, specification challenges, and other administrative and civil litigation involving governmental procurement.

How long do I have to protest a contract award?

Significant deadlines are as short as 72 hours, and the normal filing of your completed protest usually has to happen within 10 days.

Does the firm represent agencies as well as vendors?

Yes. We also provide legal advice to Florida agencies to help them through important procurements if we are not representing a private business in the procurement.

When should a vendor bring in counsel?

We are happy to handle a bid protest, but we add more value when we’re engaged from the start of a governmental procurement.

What happens if I do not challenge the bid specifications?

If there were problems with the bid specifications but you did not challenge them before the notice of intent to award, you have usually waived the right to raise those legal arguments in the bid protest.