Protest & Debrief Deadline Calculator
You lost an award (or found a problem in a solicitation). This calculator lays out your GAO filing deadlines and — the one people miss — the separate, shorter window to get the CICA automatic stay that stops contract performance while GAO decides.
These deadlines forgive nothing. GAO's timeliness rules are strictly enforced and the stay window is statutory — miss it by a day and performance proceeds even if you win. Dates below are computed in calendar days from what you enter; confirm every date with protest counsel before relying on it. Filing even one day earlier than a computed deadline is always safer.
Your situation
Initial proposals (or the closing time for quotations)
Date of award (not the date you learned of it, for the stay clock)
E.g., unsuccessful-offeror notice. Used when no required debriefing applies.
How this works & where the rules come from
- Solicitation-defect protests must be filed before the time set for receipt of initial proposals; defects first appearing in an amendment must be protested before the next closing. [4 CFR 21.2(a)(1)]
- Post-award GAO deadline (merits): file within 10 days of when you knew or should have known your basis of protest. Exception: where a debriefing was requested and required, you may not file before the debriefing, and must file within 10 days after the date on which the debriefing is held. [4 CFR 21.2(a)(2)]
- CICA automatic stay (the one that stops performance): the agency must suspend performance if GAO notifies it of a protest filed within the later of 10 days after award or 5 days after the debriefing date offered under a timely-requested required debriefing. This window is usually shorter than the GAO merits window — a protest can be timely at GAO yet too late for the stay. [31 U.S.C. 3553(d)(4); FAR 33.104(c)]
- DoD enhanced debriefings: for DoD procurements you may submit additional written questions within 2 business days after the debriefing; the debriefing is not “concluded” until the agency delivers written answers (due within 5 business days), and the 5-day stay clock and 10-day GAO clock run from that delivery. If you do not submit timely questions, the clocks run from the original debriefing date — the Federal Circuit enforced exactly that trap in NIKA Techs. (Fed. Cir. 2020). [DFARS 252.215-7016]
- GAO decision clock: GAO must decide within 100 days of filing (65 days under the express option). Agency report is due 30 days after filing; your comments 10 days after the report. [31 U.S.C. 3554(a); 4 CFR 21.9, 21.3]
- “Days” are calendar days; a deadline landing on a weekend or federal holiday extends to the next day GAO is open. This calculator shows both the raw date and the rolled date — treat the raw date as your working deadline. [4 CFR 21.0(d)]
- Other forums exist: an agency-level protest (10-day rule, FAR 33.103) and the Court of Federal Claims (no fixed deadline, but solicitation defects are waived if not raised pre-close — the Blue & Gold rule). Forum choice is a counsel decision.
Disclaimer. FedCite is a private publication and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to the U.S. Government, GAO, or any federal agency. This calculator is general information, not legal advice. Protest deadlines are strictly enforced and fact-dependent (when a debriefing is “required,” when a basis “should have been known,” holiday schedules, filing-time cutoffs at 5:30 p.m. Eastern on EPDS) — small facts change the answer. Confirm every date with a bid-protest attorney before acting. If a computed date is today or tomorrow, call counsel now, not after reading the rest of this page.