# GAO Bid Protest Docket Scraper (`parseforge/gao-bid-protest-docket-scraper`) Actor

Scrapes the U.S. GAO bid protest docket for entries by status, agency, protester, or filing date. Returns each docket entry as a flat row with optional decision summaries and full text.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/parseforge/gao-bid-protest-docket-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [ParseForge](https://apify.com/parseforge) (community)
- **Categories:** Lead generation, Developer tools
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $6.23 / 1,000 docket entries

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

[![ParseForge](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ParseForge/apify-assets/main/banner.jpg)](https://apify.com/parseforge?fpr=vmoqkp)

### GAO Bid Protest Docket Scraper

**Scrape the U.S. Government Accountability Office bid protest docket — every open and closed protest with its protester, contracting agency, solicitation number, GAO file number, filed date, decision due date, outcome and the published decision.** No login, no API key, no browser. Built for daily updates: point it at yesterday's date and it returns only the new filings. Export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML.

GAO publishes its docket as a searchable list on gao.gov with no API, no RSS and no bulk download, and a protective edge that refuses plain HTTP clients. This Actor reads that same public docket — the list, each docket page and the decision pages — and returns one flat row per protest.

| Who uses it | What they scrape the GAO docket for |
|---|---|
| Government-contracting law firms | New protests filed against their clients' awards, by agency or solicitation, before the agency notice arrives |
| Business-development teams at contractors | Which competitors are protesting which solicitations, and the 100-day decision deadline |
| Bid protest litigators | Sustain/deny/dismiss outcomes, the decision digest and the counsel of record on comparable cases |
| Procurement analysts and journalists | Protest volume by agency, outcome rates, and the attorneys handling each matter |
| Legal-data and alerting products | A daily feed of docket entries with stable file numbers for deduplication |

### What it does

This Actor lists the GAO bid protest docket (about 1,600 entries: roughly 230 open at any time and 1,360 closed) and returns one row per protest:

- 📁 **The docket entry:** GAO file number (B-number), protester, contracting agency and component, solicitation number, open/closed status and outcome (Denied, Sustained, Dismissed, Withdrawn…).
- 📅 **Docket details** (on by default): the date the protest was filed, GAO's due date for the decision, the decision date for closed cases, the case type and the GAO attorney assigned.
- ⚖️ **Decision summary** (optional, closed cases): decision date, the disposition sentence ("We sustain the protest."), the highlights, the DIGEST paragraphs, counsel of record for the protester, intervenor and agency, and the link to the decision PDF.
- 📄 **Full decision text** (optional): the complete published decision.

Filters run on gao.gov itself, so a search by agency, protester, solicitation number or file number costs a single page. For daily monitoring, set **Filed after** to yesterday: the Actor reads the newest entries first and stops as soon as it reaches older ones.

Every row contains: `fileNumber`, `protester`, `agency`, `subAgency`, `solicitationNumber`, `status`, `outcome`, `docketUrl`, `postedOn`, `filedDate`, `dueDate`, `decisionDate`, `caseType`, `gaoAttorney`, and with the decision: `decisionUrl`, `decisionSummary`, `decisionHighlights`, `decisionDigest`, `counsel`, `decisionPdfUrl`, `decisionText`, plus `scrapedAt`.

### What you can do with GAO bid protest data

**Get a daily alert of new protests against an agency.**

A law firm schedules a run every morning with `agency: "Department of Veterans Affairs"` and `filedAfter` set to yesterday, and pushes the new rows into its matter-intake system.

**Watch a solicitation.**

A contractor that just won an award sets `solicitation` to its RFP number and learns the same day whether a competitor has protested — and when GAO must decide.

**Build an outcome dataset.**

A litigator pulls all closed cases with the decision summary and computes sustain rates by agency, by year and by counsel.

**Research comparable decisions.**

Search by protester name to see every protest a company has filed, with each decision's digest and PDF.

### Why choose this scraper

|  | What you get |
|---|---|
| **The whole docket** | Open and closed cases, with the same file numbers GAO uses, so rows deduplicate cleanly across daily runs |
| **Dates that matter** | Filed date and GAO's decision due date on every entry, decision date on closed ones |
| **The decision itself** | Disposition, digest, counsel and PDF link, not just a status |
| **Server-side filters** | Agency, protester, solicitation and file number are applied by gao.gov; you pay for rows, not for browsing |
| **Daily-update mode** | `filedAfter` stops the run at the first older entries |
| **No browser, no residential proxy** | Runs on Apify's datacenter proxy with a browser-grade TLS fingerprint |

### How it compares

| Feature | ParseForge | Other government-contract scrapers |
|---|---|---|
| GAO bid protest docket (open and closed) | Yes | Not listed |
| Filed date and 100-day due date | Yes | Not listed |
| Decision summary, digest and counsel | Yes | Not listed |
| Filter by agency, protester, solicitation, file number | Yes | Not listed |
| Daily-update stop on older entries | Yes | Not listed |

### Configure the run

Pick a status, add filters if you want, and set the maximum number of entries. Docket details are on by default; the decision summary and full text are opt-in because they cost an extra request per closed case.

A first run with the defaults:

```json
{
  "status": "open",
  "maxItems": 20
}
```

Daily monitoring of one agency:

```json
{
  "status": "open",
  "agency": "Department of the Army",
  "filedAfter": "2026-08-25",
  "maxItems": 200
}
```

Closed cases with the decision:

```json
{
  "status": "closed",
  "includeDecision": true,
  "maxItems": 500
}
```

One protest:

```json
{
  "status": "all",
  "fileNumber": "B-424507.3",
  "includeDecision": true
}
```

### Limits

- The docket lists 20 entries per page; the full docket is about 80 pages. Requests are spaced 400 ms apart, so a complete pull with details takes roughly 20 minutes. Use the filters or `filedAfter` for routine runs.
- Dismissed and withdrawn protests usually have no published decision; those rows return the docket fields with `decisionUrl: null`.
- gao.gov's decision-date filter is not exposed because it empties the docket listing on the site itself; filter on `decisionDate` in the exported rows instead.
- GAO's edge occasionally refuses an exit IP. The Actor rotates its proxy session and, if the datacenter pool keeps being refused, switches to residential for the rest of the run.

### Pricing

Pay-per-event. **$7 per 1,000 docket entries** (`docket-entry`) plus $0.02 per run start. Extras are charged only when enabled and only for the entries that actually have them:

| Event | Price | When |
|---|---|---|
| `docket-entry` | $0.007 | Every row |
| `docket-details` | $0.003 | Docket details on (default) |
| `decision-summary` | $0.006 | Decision summary on, closed case with a published decision |
| `decision-text` | $0.004 | Full decision text on |

| Run | Approximate cost |
|---|---|
| 20 open entries with details | $0.22 |
| 230 open entries with details | $2.32 |
| 500 closed entries with details and decisions | $8.02 |

New Apify accounts start with $5 in free credit.

### Free users

Free-plan runs return up to 10 docket entries as a preview. [Upgrade your Apify plan](https://console.apify.com/sign-up?fpr=vmoqkp) to pull the whole docket.

### Run it

1. [Create a free Apify account with $5 in credit](https://console.apify.com/sign-up?fpr=vmoqkp).
2. Open the [GAO Bid Protest Docket Scraper](https://apify.com/parseforge/gao-bid-protest-docket-scraper?fpr=vmoqkp).
3. Pick a status, set any filters, then click **Start**.
4. Export the results as CSV, Excel, JSON, or XML from the **Dataset** tab, or schedule the run daily.

Run it programmatically through the [Apify API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2) (`run-sync-get-dataset-items`) or the [ApifyClient](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js) for JavaScript and Python.

### Use with AI agents (MCP)

Give an AI agent live access to the GAO docket through the Model Context Protocol. Add the Actor to Claude, Cursor, or any MCP client:

```bash
claude mcp add --transport http apify "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=parseforge/gao-bid-protest-docket-scraper"
```

Then ask: *"Which bid protests were filed against the Department of the Army this week, and when is each decision due?"*

### FAQ

**Is the data public?** Yes. GAO publishes its bid protest docket and decisions on gao.gov for anyone to read; the Actor collects only those public pages.

**How current is it?** GAO posts new filings to the docket daily, usually the day after filing. A run with `filedAfter` set to yesterday catches them.

**Why is `decisionUrl` empty on some closed cases?** GAO publishes decisions for protests it decides on the merits; most dismissals and withdrawals have no decision document.

# Actor input Schema

## `status` (type: `string`):

Open cases (about 230 at any time), closed cases (decided, dismissed or withdrawn) or the whole docket (about 1,600 entries).

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

Stop after this many docket entries. Free-plan runs return up to 10 as a preview.

## `filedAfter` (type: `string`):

YYYY-MM-DD. Only entries filed on or after this date; the run stops once it reaches older entries, so a daily schedule with yesterday's date costs a handful of pages. Needs docket details (enabled automatically).

## `agency` (type: `string`):

Contracting agency as GAO names it, e.g. "Department of the Army", "Department of Veterans Affairs", "Defense Logistics Agency".

## `protester` (type: `string`):

Company name or part of it, e.g. "Apogee".

## `solicitation` (type: `string`):

Full or partial solicitation number, e.g. "FA2217-26-R-0003".

## `fileNumber` (type: `string`):

A single B-number, e.g. "B-424507.3".

## `includeDetails` (type: `boolean`):

Open each docket entry for the filed date, due date (GAO's 100-day decision deadline), case type and the GAO attorney assigned. One extra request per entry.

## `includeDecision` (type: `boolean`):

For closed cases, open the published decision: date, disposition sentence, highlights, digest, counsel of record and the PDF link. One extra request per closed entry.

## `includeDecisionText` (type: `boolean`):

Also return the full text of the decision (can be tens of thousands of characters). Needs Decision summary.

## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`):

gao.gov's Akamai edge refuses Apify's container IPs, so runs go through the Apify datacenter proxy by default and escalate to residential only if that pool is refused.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "status": "open",
  "maxItems": 20,
  "includeDetails": true,
  "includeDecision": false,
  "includeDecisionText": false,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  }
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

One row per docket entry, with docket details and the decision summary when enabled

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "status": "open",
    "maxItems": 20,
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": true
    }
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("parseforge/gao-bid-protest-docket-scraper").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {
    "status": "open",
    "maxItems": 20,
    "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": True },
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("parseforge/gao-bid-protest-docket-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "status": "open",
  "maxItems": 20,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  }
}' |
apify call parseforge/gao-bid-protest-docket-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,parseforge/gao-bid-protest-docket-scraper"
        }
    }
}

```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/4SztzSayl26mXm7bT/builds/jrp6OCrsQzBvClsd3/openapi.json