Link: GAO Decision
Protestor: King Farm Associates, LLC
Agency: General Services Administration
Disposition: Request for Reconsideration Denied.
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GAO Digest:
GAO will not grant request for reconsideration to vacate protest decision based on new information where the protester has not demonstrated any nexus between the newly-disclosed information and the procurement at issue.
General Counsel PC:
King Farm Associates, LLC requested that the GAO reconsider its decision denying the protest of the agency’s award to Fishers Lane/JBG Companies of a lease for office space for HHS. Although SSEB and SSA had each recommended King Farm for award, the Head of Contracting Activity (HCA) for the region selected Fishers Lane for award. King Farm protested, and the GAO sustained that protest and recommended that the agency reevaluate proposals and make a new source selection. After award was again made to Fishers Lane, King Farm protested once again. The GAO denied the second protest after concluding that King Farm had not demonstrated that the agency’s actions were unreasonable.
King Farm stated that a report by the GSA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) exposed new facts demonstrating improper and potentially criminal procurement activities at GSA’s Public Building Service. It alleges that the GSA officials who were fired, resigned, or placed on administrative leave as a result of the OIG report were personally involved in the procurement at issue. The GAO declined to reconsider its decision, pointing out that King Farm had not shown any nexus between the activities described in the OIG report and the lease procurement at issue. It noted that the OIG report was based on the investigation in connection with a conference involving a different GSA region, and that King Farm had failed to tie certain GSA officials to the lease procurement.
The GAO will only reconsider its decisions if the prior decision contained errors of law or fact, or if the protestor presents new information, not considered in the prior decision, that warrants the reversal or modification of the prior decision. If presenting new information, the protestor must ensure that the new information has a nexus to the findings in the underlying decision. Merely disagreeing with the GAO decision, without presenting new information tied to the procurement at issue, will not result in a successful request for reconsideration.