Global Technical Systems versus Department of Navy

File: B-411230.2
Date: September 9, 2015
Instructions: Please analyze the attached Global Technical Systems case and submit a brief using the format below.
Briefing can be extensive or short depending on the depth of analysis. A comprehensive brief includes the following:
1. Title and Citation. The title of the case shows who is opposing whom. The name of the parties involved in the case. The citation provides the case number which tells how to locate the case.

2. Facts of the Case. A good student brief will include a summary of the pertinent facts and legal points raised in the case. It will show the nature of the litigation, who sued whom, based on what occurrences, and what happened, The facts are often conveniently summarized at the beginning of the GAO's opinion. Sometimes, the best statement of the facts will be found in a denied or sustained opinion. The fact section of a good student brief will include the following elements:
o A one-sentence description of the nature of the case, to serve as an introduction.
o A statement of the relevant regulation or law, with quotation marks or underlining to draw attention to the key words or phrases that are in dispute.
o A summary of the complaint plus relevant evidence and arguments presented to the GAO to explain who did what to whom and why the case was thought to involve illegal or improper conduct.
o A summary of actions taken by contracting officer
3. Issues. The issues or questions of regulation or law raised by the facts peculiar to the case are often stated explicitly by the GAO. Cases frequently involve multiple issues, some of interest only to protestor and lawyers, others of broader and enduring significant. Be sure you have included all issues. When noting issues, it may help to phrase them in terms of questions that can be answered with a precise "yes" or "no."

4. Decisions. The decision is the GAO's answer to a question presented to him for answer by the parties involved or raised by the GAO himself in its own reading of the case. If the issues have been drawn precisely, the decision can be stated in simple "yes" or "no" or sustained or denied answers or in short statements taken from the language used by the GAO.

5. Reasoning. The reasoning, or rationale, is the chain of argument which led the GAO judges in either a sustained or denied opinion.

6. Separate Opinions. Both sustained or denied opinions should be subjected to the same depth of analysis to bring out the major points of agreement or disagreement with the GAO's opinion. Make a note of how each GAO judge made his/her decision and how that decision compares to similar decision in the past (See other cases referenced in the GAO decision, if any). (Include your personal opinion of the GAO decision.)

7. Analysis. Evaluate the significance of the case, its relationship to other cases, its place in history, and what it shows about the GAO, its members, its decision-making processes, or the impact it has on government procurement policy and regulations. It is here that the implicit assumptions and values of the GAO should be probed, the "rightness" of the decision debated, and the logic of the reasoning considered.