If you are trying to determine where parties adjudicate cases involving procurements of the District of Columbia government, then you are looking for the D.C. Contract Appeals Board (CAB). The D.C. Procurement Practices Reform Act (D.C. Code §§ 2-360.03; 2-359.07(f); 2-221.04) vests CAB with exclusive jurisdiction to decide: protests of District government awards and solicitations, appeals by contractors of District contracting officer final decisions, contractor appeals of interest payment claims under the D.C. Quick Payment Act, appeals by contractors of debarments and suspensions, and claims by the District against contractors. Our mission at the Board is to provide an impartial, expeditious, inexpensive, and knowledgeable forum for hearing and resolving all such contractual disputes, protests, Quick Payment Act claims and debarments/suspensions as noted above.
Parties considering CAB for the adjudication of cases should take the time to become familiar with our Board Rules governing practice and procedure. Generally speaking, Chapter 2 of the Board Rules provide detailed requirements and rules governing contract claims and disputes, and Chapter 3 of the Board Rules provide detailed requirements and rules governing protests of solicitations and awards. Our rules govern case initiation, pretrial and hearing procedures (where applicable), Alternative Dispute Resolution, Electronic Filing, appeals from Board final decisions and much more. Although the Board permits non-electronic filing in all cases, the Board initiated comprehensive electronic filing in 2001 and encourages parties to review our Guidelines for Electronic File and Serve for detailed guidance.
Members of the public seeking to research current or previous Board cases have several options. The most extensive search tool is the Board’s website, which contains fully searchable PDFs for nearly all Board cases dating back to the 1960s and earlier. The Board’s website is the most extensive search tool because it contains not only prior written Board decisions, but also Board Orders, party motions and pleadings, contract records, and most other non-confidential, non-privileged records filed in cases. In addition to the Board’s website, CAB written decisions are published in the District of Columbia Register, and can be accessed through the appropriate LexisNexis and West Group electronic databases.
Board cases are adjudicated by its panel of Administrative Judges. Please contact Board Counsel, Mark D. Poindexter at 202-727-6597 or [email protected] for more information.