31 U.S.C. § 3555 — Regulations; authority of Comptroller General to verify assertions

(a) The Comptroller General must prescribe procedures needed for prompt decisions on protests under this subchapter, including accelerated decisions under the express option in section 3554(a)(2). The procedures must prevent a protest^* from being delayed because a party failed to file on time. (b) For any period under this subchapter, the procedure must exclude the day of the act, event, or default starting the period and include the last day, unless it is Saturday, Sunday, or a legal holiday, or, for a filing at the Government Accountability Office or a Federal agency^*, weather or other conditions closed that office; then the next non-weekend, non-holiday day is included. (c) Electronic filing and document dissemination system. (1) The Comptroller General must establish and operate a system under which, following prescribed procedures, (A) a protest may be filed electronically and (B) required protest documents and information may be distributed and made available electronically. (2) (A) The Comptroller General may require every protest filer to pay a fee supporting the system, whether or not the filer uses it. (B) The Comptroller General must set and periodically update the fee schedule. (3) (A) The Comptroller General must keep a separate Government Accountability Office account for the system and deposit all fees there. (B) The funds are available without fiscal-year limitation only to establish and operate the system. (d) The Comptroller General may use authority under chapters 7 and 35 of title 31 to verify assertions made by protest parties.