Link: GAO Opinion
Agency: General Services Administration
Disposition: Protest denied.
Keywords: Protest the terms of a solicitation
General Counsel P.C. Highlight: In preparing a solicitation, a contracting agency is required to specify its needs in a manner designed to achieve full and open competition and may include restrictive requirements only to the extent they are necessary to satisfy the agency’s legitimate needs.
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General Services Administration (GSA) issued a solicitation for offers (SFO) for the lease of office space to house portions of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The SFO requires that the housing be located in Washington, DC, or if in Virginia or Maryland, within a certain proximity of the main DHS campus under development.
Eisenhower protests the geographic restriction. GAO states that the contracting agency has the discretion to determine its needs and the best method to accommodate them. In preparing a solicitation, a contracting agency is required to specify its needs in a manner designed to achieve full and open competition and may include restrictive requirements only to the extent they are necessary to satisfy the agency’s legitimate needs. An agency may include geographic restrictions if they are reasonably necessary for the agency to meet its needs.
The record shows that, early in the procurement planning process, DHS documented its rationale for the chosen geographic area. DHS concluded that the location is critical to DHS headquarters operations. The location will facilitate the extensive daily interactions between DHS components, enabling DHS to share services among components, improve organizational efficiently, and enhance component working relationships. GAO states that this is sufficient to explain the nexus between the agency’s mission needs and proximity of DHS components. GAO states that the agency has reasonably explained the geographic restriction. The protest is denied.