Link: GAO Decision
Protestor: California Industrial Facilities Resources, Inc.
Agency: Defense Logistics Agency
Disposition: Protest Denied.
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GAO Digest:
Protest that request for quotations impermissibly solicits equipment that is beyond the scope of several underlying indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contracts is denied where record shows that equipment to be purchased is within the scope of the underlying contracts
General Counsel P.C. Highlight:
California Industrial Facilities Resources, Inc., d/b/a CAMSS Shelters (CAMSS), protested the terms of an RFQ to acquire a quantity of environmental control units (ECUs), alleging that the RFQ was soliciting a requirement that is beyond the scope of the underlying multiple award indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity (ID/IQ) contracts under which the RFQ was issued. The underlying multiple award ID/IQ contracts are part of the Special Operational Equipment Tailored Logistics Support Program (SOETLSP); CAMSS is not one of the four contract holders under SOETLSP. CAMSS asserted that the agency was required to conduct a separate, full and open competition for the ECU contracts.
The GAO first noted that CAMSS has protested other awards made by the agency under the SOETLSP contracts, making the exact opposite argument from what it made in this protest. CAMSS relied on the GAO’s decision from its earlier protest to make the argument in this case that the SOETLSP contract were limited to equipment for use by special operations forces to accomplish their mission. However, the GAO found that the underlying RFP put offerors on notice that, while the primary concept of the contracts was to support the special operations community, it also contemplated other users and customers using the contracts for missions other than special operations missions.
Where an agency makes use of multiple award ID/IQ contracts to procure a wide variety of goods and/or services, potential offerors should carefully analyze the RFP so as to properly understand the type of orders to be anticipated, the prospective user or customer base, and the nature of the missions for which equipment could be ordered. If a firm is not one of the contract holders under a broad procurement program, it could miss out on the opportunity to compete for a wide variety of contracts if the RFP clearly put offerors on notice as to the broad scope of the program.