A recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) decision offers an important reminder that agencies cannot apply evaluation criteria that differ from the language of the solicitation. In Veterans Management Services, Inc., B-424182.2; B-424182.3 (June 22, 2026), GAO sustained a bid protest after finding that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) improperly limited its review of Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS) records when evaluating past performance.
The decision reinforces a fundamental principle of federal procurement law: Agencies must evaluate proposals in accordance with the solicitation. It also demonstrates why contractors challenging a past performance evaluation should closely examine whether the agency followed its stated evaluation methodology.
Can an Agency Ignore Older CPARS Evaluations?
Generally, no — unless the solicitation expressly permits it.
In this case, the VA issued a solicitation under FAR Subpart 8.4 seeking acquisition support services. An award would be made on a best-value tradeoff basis, with past performance carrying approximately the same weight as price. The solicitation informed vendors that the agency would review CPARS information and stated that performance within the previous three years “may be viewed more favorably” than older performance. That language became the central issue in the protest.
Rather than reviewing all available CPARS information and assigning greater weight to more recent performance, the VA created an internal evaluation methodology that completely excluded every CPARS record older than three years. Once a reference was classified as older than three years, the agency stopped evaluating it altogether. GAO concluded that this approach was inconsistent with the solicitation.
The solicitation never stated that older CPARS evaluations would be ignored. Instead, it merely indicated that recent performance could receive greater weight. By refusing to consider older performance entirely, the VA effectively imposed an undisclosed evaluation criterion after quotations had been submitted.
For government contractors, the lesson is straightforward. If a solicitation says recent experience is “more favorable,” that does not automatically authorize the agency to disregard older relevant performance.
Why Did GAO Sustain the Protest?
GAO reviews past performance evaluations to determine whether they are reasonable, consistent with the solicitation, and compliant with procurement law. Here, GAO determined that the VA’s evaluation conflicted with its own solicitation.
The VA interpreted “more favorable” as a binary rule that eliminated every CPARS record older than three years from further consideration. GAO rejected that interpretation because it rendered part of the solicitation meaningless. If older performance was never going to be evaluated, there would have been no reason for the solicitation to discuss how it would be treated.
This decision highlights an important distinction in bid protest law. Giving recent performance greater weight is not the same as refusing to evaluate older performance altogether.
Why This Decision Matters for Government Contractors
The Veterans Management Services decision provides several practical lessons for contractors pursuing or defending federal procurements.
First, agencies cannot create undisclosed evaluation rules that narrow or alter the solicitation after proposals have been submitted.
Second, solicitation language stating that one type of experience receives greater weight does not necessarily permit the agency to disregard other relevant experience.
Third, CPARS evaluations that are more than three years old may remain relevant unless the solicitation expressly excludes them.
As agencies continue to rely heavily on CPARS evaluations in best-value procurements, this decision will likely become an important precedent in future protests involving past performance evaluations and undisclosed evaluation methodologies.
If you have any questions about this noteworthy decision or require assistance, please do not hesitate to contact Aron Beezley or Gabby Sprio.