The protest window passed
On September 22, the contracting officer denied an agency-level protest for a FAR Part 8 purchase order. After some back and forth, on September 30, the CO said "[i]f there is no shutdown [he would] further debrief consistent with [FAR] Part 15.” Except there was a shutdown. Then, on December 1, the CO sent a written debriefing. On December 4, the protestor went to GAO. But, in bad news for the protestor, GAO's view was that, because no formal debrief was actually required under FAR Part 8, the protest window started to run on September 22 (and tolled through the shutdown), not on December 1. And because the protest was untimely, the protest was dismissed.