Competition in contracting act automatic stay
automatic stays, which may be triggered by pre-or post-award protests. The Competition in Contracting Act (CICA) requires agencies, in most instances, to stay the award of a contract, or stay the performance of an awarded contract, if timely notice of a protest is received. (See, 31 Under the federal Competition in Contracting Act, an automatic stay of a federal procurement goes into effect if an unsuccessful bidder files a bid protest with the GAO either within ten days after a contract award is made or within five days of an agency debriefing to the bidder, whichever is later.During the stay, “the contracting officer may not authorize performance of the contract to The stay is authorized by a Federal statute known as the Competition in Contracting Act (“CICA”) (31 USC § 3553). The benefit of a performance stay is obvious – the contract cannot be awarded or performed while the stay is pending. In the case of short-term contracts, the stay can be of the utmost importance.