Link: GAO Opinion
Agency: Department of the Army
Disposition: Protest denied.
Keywords: Corrective Action
General Counsel P.C. Highlight: A contracting agency properly may take corrective action in order to rectify an error in the solicitation concerning the basis for award, where there is no evidence that the agency acted in other than good faith.
—————————————————————————————————————————–
Training Management Solutions, Inc. (TMSI) protests the corrective action taken by the Department of the Army under a request for proposals (RFP) for digital training management system sustainment.
The RFP contained three technical evaluation factors: (1) technical approach; (2) management and staffing; and (3) past performance. The technical factors when combined were significantly more than price. TMSI filed a protest prior to the current protest and the agency took corrective action, which included amending the solicitation to reflect that the combination of technical factors is approximately equal to price, accept revised proposals, reevaluate, and make a new award decision.
GAO states that it has no basis to object to the agency’s corrective action. The contracting officer stated that the original RFP was in error when it identified the combined technical factors as significantly more important that price. A contracting agency properly may take corrective action in order to rectify an error in the solicitation concerning the basis for award, where there is no evidence that the agency acted in other than good faith. Here, GAO states, the agency reasonably remedied the error and TMSI offers no evidence that the agency acted in bad faith. The protest is denied.