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Unsure About Whether You’ve Contracted with DoD? This GAO Decision Will Set You Straight.

The protester argued it complied with a solicitation requirement to submit a past DOD contract it performed. The agency did not consider the contract a DOD contract issued by a DOD component because it lacked a DoD procurement instrument identifier (PIID). GAO agreed this was a reasonable determination.

KBT Contracting Corporation, GAO B-422662.2
  • Solicitation - The agency issued a solicitation for maintenance, repair, construction, and design-build services. The solicitation instructed offerors to submit past performance examples. One of these projects was had to "have been performed on a DOD contract issued by any DOD component."
  • Protest - The agency rejected the protester's proposal, finding the protester had not submitted a DoD contract. The protester argued that a contract it performed for the Florida National Guard qualified as a DOD contract. While the proposal stated it was a DOD contract, it did not provide any further information to support the claim.
  • Decision - In response to the protest, the CO explained its determination was based on unique procurement instrument identifiers (PIID). The FAR requires agencies to assign PIIDs to identify all contract actions, and all DOD contracts have a 13-digit PIID with at least one letter. Because the contract in question did not have one of these PIIDs, GAO found the agency's determination reasonable and denied the protest.

The protester was represented by Rebecca Timmons. The agency was represented by Andrew J. Smith, Paula Barr, Sean B. Zehtab, and Joshua Reyes of the Army. Mary G. Curcio and John Sorrenti of GAO participated in the preparation of the decision.

-- Case summary by Joshua Lim, Assistant Editor

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