Link: GAO Opinion
Agencies: Department of Justice, Bureau of Prisons
Disposition: Protest Denied.
Keywords: Requirements contract
General Counsel, P.C. Highlight: Although a minimum order amount may not be included in the Solicitation, the promise to order all of the Government’s requirements for particular services at a particular location is sufficient consideration for the award of a requirements contract.
—————————————————————————————————————————–
The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) issued a solicitation in May of 2009 for the award of a fixed-price requirements-type contract for the provision of dental assistant and pharmacy technician services. In the solicitation, the agency reserved the right to make two requirements contract awards if it was determined to be advantageous to the government, in which case there would be separate indefinite delivery/requirements-type contracts, one for dental assistant services and the other for pharmacy technician services.
JRS Management protested the terms of this solicitation, claiming that the right to award two requirements-type contracts renders illusory the consideration necessary for an enforceable requirements contract. GAO disagreed. A requirements contract lacks consideration where the Government disclaims any obligation to order all its requirements from the contractor, thus rendering the contract illusory and unenforceable. In this case, the RFP contained the necessary promise to order all its requirements for the stated services at a particular location from the awardee. That by itself was sufficient consideration to support the award of one or more requirements contract. Protest denied.