In its January 2016 decision in RELI Group Inc., the GAO ordered the government to amend and re-issue its life-cycle support services RFP after finding that its past experience criteria contained a latent ambiguity regarding whether prime bidders could rely on past experience as subcontractors. While noting that bidders generally have the onus of complaining prior to the bid deadline when they discover a patent ambiguity (such as an “obvious, gross, or glaring error”), the GAO upheld the protest, finding that the vague past experience requirement was a more subtle latent ambiguity that was subject to more than one interpretation and could therefore undermine a fair evaluation.
