Link: GAO Opinion
Agency: Department of the Army
Disposition: Protests denied.
General Counsel P.C. Highlight:
GAO denied the protests of Latvian Connection, LLC and Solution Managers International–USA, LLC, based on the decision of the Department of the Army, Army Contracting Command New Jersey, to amend, rather than cancel, a request for proposals (RFP), for energy-efficient, rigid-walled shelters.
The solicitation was issued as a small business set-aside for single and two-story energy-efficient shelters for a project in Kuwait. The RFP contemplated award of an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (ID/IQ) contract. Proposals were to be evaluated based on technical, price, and past performance factors.
After an awardee was selected, two unsuccessful offerors filed a protest with GAO, which was eventually dismissed pending corrective action. The agency terminated the award and amended the solicitation to permit submission of revised proposals. The agency also issued two eventual amendments to the solicitation. Latvian requested that the CO extend the deadline for receipt of proposals as the closing date did not provide sufficient time to prepare a proposal based on the amendments. The CO declined.
Latvian asserted that the amendments so substantially changed the solicitation that the agency should have canceled the solicitation and issued a new one to allow all offerors an opportunity to compete. GAO concluded that the amendments were not substantial enough to warrant a cancellation of the solicitation. The amendments merely clarified requirements already included in the initial solicitation and required offerors to submit new technical and price proposals. The magnitude of the changes reasonably could have been anticipated, stated GAO.