Matter of: Adapt Forward, LLC
GAO · Feb 18, 2026
- Jurisdiction
- federal
- Court
- GAO
- Record ID
- matter-of-adapt-forward-llc-2026-02-18
- Observed outcome
- The protest was denied on the merits, and the GAO issued a formal warning to the protester's counsel regarding the citation of non-existent authority.
- Known monetary consequence
- Not recorded
Why this matter warrants attention
The GAO issued a formal warning to counsel regarding the citation of non-existent or inapposite legal authority in a bid protest filing. The GAO explicitly cautioned that such conduct, potentially resulting from the use of artificial intelligence, may trigger referrals to bar associations or other disciplinary bodies for professional misconduct.
Fabricated: Case Law | Protester cited 'SRA Int’l, Inc.' with an inaccurate B-number/date; GAO found the original citation inaccurate and the revised citation inapposite. || Fabricated: Case Law | Protester cited 'Boeing Sikorsky Aircraft Support' with an incorrect B-number/date; GAO could not locate the cited decision and requested corrected citations. || Fabricated: Case Law | Protester cited 'Caci, Inc.' with an inaccurate B-number/date; GAO noted the citation did not correctly identify the decision.
GAO bid protest cites must be pulled from primary source B-numbers, not AI summaries, before filing.
Failure modes and consequences
- Fabricated Case Law
- Inaccurate Legal Citations
- Fake Citations
- Administrative
- Trial
- Warning
- AI attribution
- Implied
- Recorded tool
- AI (implied, unspecified)
- Known monetary consequence
- Not recorded
- Procedural posture
- Bid protest before the GAO; the warning was issued within the final decision denying the protest on the merits.
Damien Charlotin case archive
Publisher document archive. The recorded document is hosted in the upstream publisher archive.
Open underlying sourceA recorded source link is not a substitute for checking the underlying order, filing, opinion, or disciplinary record.
What this record does—and does not—establish
The GAO attributed the errors to potential use of artificial intelligence.
Retained unchanged after audit: the existing summary is source-specific, non-placeholder, and supported by the recorded source link. Read the underlying source before relying on it for legal advice or a filing.
Latest evidence review: Primary Document Verified (high confidence).
Controls suggested by the public record
- Verify each cited authority, quotation, and proposition against the underlying source before filing.
- Retain a matter-level record of source checks and corrections.