Link: GAO Opinion
Agency: Department of Commerce
Disposition: Protest denied.
General Counsel P.C. Highlight:
GAO denies the protest of Systalex Corporation, based on the Department of Commerce, United States Census Bureau’s issuance of a task order to Prime Source Technologies, LLC, under a request for proposals (RFP) for the support of financial and administrative services. Systalex asserts that the agency unreasonably evaluated its proposal.
The protester challenged the validity of several discriminators used by the agency in justifying the selection of the higher-priced proposal of the awardee. GAO denied the protest where it did not find credible Systalex’s claims, and the agency reasonably concluded that the proposed quality levels of the two offerors provided a reasonable basis to discriminate between them. GAO also noted that even if the agency unreasonably assigned the weaknesses, Systalex was not prejudiced.