Filing a Bid Protest After the FY2026 NDAA: What Dallas Contractors Need to Know About “Loser Pays” and GAO Deadlines

If you’re thinking about challenging a federal contract decision, find out when you have to file before you spend time building your case. A Dallas government contracts attorney can help you pin down that date and check whether your company faces a separate payment risk under the FY2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

The law directs the Department of Defense to set up a process for holding back part of certain payments when a contractor already doing the work files a protest. The filing deadlines at the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) depend on what you’re challenging and whether you’re entitled to a debriefing.

What does “loser pays” mean under the FY2026 NDAA?

Section 875 addresses a narrow situation. The current defense contractor files a GAO protest over a new contract for the same or substantially similar work. Because the protest prevents the department from making the new award, the department extends the current contract or awards a temporary contract to keep the work going.

Congress directed the department to write procedures that would let a contracting officer withhold up to 5% of payments otherwise due for that interim work. The contractor would lose the withheld money if GAO dismisses the protest because it lacks any reasonable legal or factual basis and the dismissal becomes final.

Congress gave the department 180 days to issue the procedures. As of November 4, 2026, the published defense acquisition rules still don’t spell out how the withholding would work.

When do you have to file a GAO bid protest?

If the problem is clear from the solicitation before bids or initial proposals are due, file before that deadline. If the agency adds the problem in an amendment, file by the next proposal deadline. If there’s no further deadline for submissions, file within 10 days of when you knew or should’ve known about the problem, whichever came first.

For most other protests, you have 10 calendar days from when you knew or should’ve known the basis for your challenge, whichever came first. If the agency used competitive proposals and you request a required debriefing on time, wait for the debriefing. For issues you knew or should’ve known about before or during the debriefing, the filing deadline is generally 10 days after it ends. In a negotiated procurement, get your written post-award debriefing request to the agency within three days of receiving the award notice.

When can a protest pause work on an awarded contract?

The deadline for a stay, or a pause in performance, can come before the deadline to file a protest. For a typical contract award, the agency generally must receive notice from GAO within 10 days after award or within five days after the date offered for a timely requested and required debriefing, whichever is later. The agency can override a stay in certain circumstances.

If you receive a required Defense Department post-award debriefing, you have two business days to submit written follow-up questions. If you submit them on time, the debriefing closes when the agency delivers its written answers and the five-day stay clock starts then. A Dallas government contracts attorney can help you work out both deadlines and allow time for GAO to notify the agency.

What should you do before filing?

Save the solicitation and any amendments along with your proposal and the agency’s notices. Write down when you first learned about the problem and keep a record of when you requested and received a debriefing. Your protest should explain what rule the agency violated and how the error could have affected your chance of winning.

GAO counts calendar days. If the last day of a GAO filing period falls on a weekend or federal holiday, the deadline rolls to the next business day. GAO’s same-day online filing cutoff is 5:30 p.m. Eastern time, which is 4:30 p.m. in Dallas. A protest challenging the terms of a solicitation may be due earlier.

If you’re deciding whether to challenge a federal contract decision, a Dallas government contracts attorney at Coleman Jackson, P.C. can review the grounds for your protest and the time you have to act. Contact the firm on (214) 599-0431 to schedule a consultation.

This law blog is written by attorneys at Coleman Jackson, P.C., which is located at 6060 North Central Expressway, Suite 620, Dallas, Texas 75206 for educational purposes; it does not create an attorney-client relationship between this law firm and its reader. You should consult with legal counsel in your geographical area with respect to any legal issues impacting you, your family or business.