A big enough "party bus"

Protestor argued that awardee's past performance — including the Air Force's "party bus contract" — wasn't at sufficient "scale." The agency argued that scale did not require a dollar‑value analysis and GAO agreed that the nature of the work (not prior contract value) was sufficient.

Also, watch this space!

"[W]hile not presented as a distinct protest ground, underlying the protester's numerous arguments taking issue with Salient's evaluation are allegations that DCSA improperly relied upon artificial intelligence (AI), rather than agency evaluators, to conduct the evaluation. In its report responding to the protest, the agency addressed these allegations. (attesting that “human evaluators” assessed quotations).

GAO: Salient CRGT, Inc., B-423640.2,B-423640.4 (Jan 05, 2026)