I'm working through the key dates for this process. The award notice comes Wednesday, September 1st, 2027, with debriefing and slides on Saturday, September 4th. For the merits deadline, I need to count 10 calendar days after knowledge (excluding the knowledge day itself), so starting from September 5th gets me to September 14th as the deadline. For the stay period, I'm comparing two dates: 10 calendar days after the award notice (which lands on September 11th) versus 5 calendar days after the required debriefing.

Debriefing is September 4th, so counting 5 days forward (excluding that day) brings me to September 9th. The later date controls, so September 11th is when the board must receive any protest. I'm verifying the calendar: September 1st is Wednesday, September 4th is Saturday, and September 11th is also Saturday. The agency-first approach of filing an agency protest on September 10th wouldn't trigger a stay or toll the deadline, so I'd lose the stay window entirely before the Atlas transition on September 13th. Filing at the board by September 11th is necessary, though filing earlier around September 8th or 9th would build in a safety margin to ensure actual receipt. On the waived ground issue regarding the five-year polar experience requirement, it appears in the solicitation itself, so it should have been protested before the bid deadline—raising it now would likely get dismissed and damage credibility, so I'm considering whether to omit it entirely as a protest ground or mention it only tangentially.

The stronger grounds are the unstated sensor model that wasn't disclosed in the evaluation, the failure to credit subcontractor experience despite the solicitation stating it "will be considered," and the flawed best-value tradeoff that paid an $1.8M premium based on tainted technical scores without adequate documentation. I'm also considering whether Atlas received a waiver on the same five-year requirement—if so, that's disparate treatment and a viable post-award ground. For relief, I'm requesting a stay, sustaining the protest, re-evaluation, termination of the award, and proposal costs. On the court injunction side, I need to establish irreparable harm beyond just the $620k