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FAR 52.204-7 requires offerors to have an active System for Award Management (SAM) registration when submitting an offer. The protester and the agency disagreed as to which offer — the initial proposal or the final proposal revision (FPR) — triggered the requirement. GAO found that once the FPR was submitted, the initial proposal was extinguished. Therefore, because the protester had an active SAM registration at the time of its FPR, the requirement was satisfied. The protest was sustained.

UNICA-BPA JV, LLC, GAO B-422580.3

  • Protest – The agency issued an RFQ for dormitory management support services. The protester claimed it was improperly excluded from the competition for failure to have an active SAM registration at the time of initial proposal submission. According to the protester, it had an active SAM registration at the time the firm submitted its final proposal revision and therefore complied with FAR requirements.
  • FAR Provision – FAR 52.204-7 requires an offeror to be “registered in SAM when submitting an offer or quotation…” The parties disagreed about which offer triggered the SAM registration requirement. The protester contended it was the final proposal revision as it was the only offer that an agency could make an award on. The agency argued it was triggered at the time of the initial offer.
  • Decision – GAO noted that the agency could have reasonably eliminated the protester after the initial offer, but it did not. Instead, GAO found the initial proposal was superseded by the agency’s entry into discussions with the protester and subsequent request for final proposal revisions. By submitting the final proposal revision (FPR), the initial proposal was extinguished. Therefore, because the protester had an active SAM registration during the submission of the FRP, GAO sustained the protest and concluded that the agency unreasonably found that the protester did not meet the SAM registration requirement.

The protester was represented by Richard W. Arnholt, Sylvia Yi, and Adam R. Briscoe of Bass Berry & Sims, PLC. The intervenor was represented by Timothy M. McLister, Shomari B. Wade, and Jordan N. Malone of Greenberg Traurig, LLP. Lisa C. Yeoman and Mandy W. Chiles of DHS. Emily R. O’Hara and Peter H. Tran of GAO participated in the preparation of the decision.

— Case summary by Joshua Lim, Assistant Editor