The protester challenged the agency's decision to eliminate its proposal from a task order competition for failing to include a required contract data requirements list in the correct proposal volume. The protester argued the agency should have waived the omission as a minor informality because similar information appeared in another volume of its proposal. GAO denied the protest, holding that the decision to waive a minor informality is permissive and within the agency's discretion, particularly where the protester failed to provide all the information required by the missing form.
AOC Applied Solutions, LLC, B-424403, Comptroller General of the United States
- Background - The Department of the Navy issued a solicitation under its SeaPort Next Generation IDIQ contract for engineering services. The RFP required proposals in four volumes, with volume IV containing contract documentation, including DD Form 1423, the contract data requirements list (CDRL). The CDRL required offerors to identify both a price group and an estimated total price for 28 data items. The solicitation warned that failure to meet pass/fail requirements in volume IV would render the proposal ineligible for award. The protester submitted its proposal but omitted the CDRL from volume IV. The agency rated volume IV as fail and eliminated the proposal from the competition, prompting this protest.
- Waiver of Minor Informality - The protester argued that its failure to include the CDRL in volume IV should have been waived as a minor informality because it had already provided the required information in volume III of its cost proposal, which identified the 8000 series line items as "not separately priced." According to the protester, requiring duplication of this information served no purpose and did not impact its price or the evaluation. GAO disagreed, finding the protester mischaracterized its error. The CDRL required both a price group in Block 17 and an estimated total price in Block 18 for each data item, but the protester's volume III included only the latter. Because the premise of the protester's argument was flawed, the agency acted reasonably in declining to waive the error.
- Agency Discretion - GAO reinforced the well-established rule that even when an agency has the authority to waive a minor informality or irregularity, the decision to do so is entirely permissive and within the agency's discretion. Citing prior decisions under FAR Part 15, GAO noted that the same rationale applies in this FAR Part 16 procurement. The agency explained that the CDRL is a material contract document that serves as the official artifact listing all deliverables and must be included in the contract file. Given the missing information and the materiality of the form, GAO concluded the agency reasonably exercised its discretion in eliminating the proposal rather than overlooking the omission.
- Alleged Inconsistent Treatment - The protester also argued the agency acted inconsistently by waiving its failure to include a required fee table in volume IV while refusing to waive the CDRL omission. GAO rejected this argument as well. Unlike the fee table, where the protester had provided the same complete information elsewhere in its proposal, the CDRL required information the protester never provided anywhere, namely the price group designations in Block 17. Because the two situations were factually distinguishable, the agency's differing treatment was not inconsistent and did not provide a basis to sustain the protest.
The protester is represented by Katherine B. Burrows, Eric A. Valle, Caitlin E. Trevillyan, and Adel K.H. Mansour of Piliero Mazza, PLLC. The government is represented by Theresa Cortese-Fusaro and Stephanie Kearney-Quilling of the Department of the Navy, Naval Surface Warfare Center. GAO attorneys Mary G. Curcio and John Sorrenti participated in the decision.