The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued its annual report concerning bid protests for fiscal year 2008.  According to the report, there were 1652 protests filed in 2008, which was an increase of 17% from 2007.  It appears that protesting is effective.  According to the report, protesters were “effective” (meaning a protester received “some form of relief from the agency”)  in 42% of the cases.