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Published on September 5, 2023 • Law

Take Heed: Your Post-Award Communications Could Turn into an Unwitting Agency Protest

The protester emailed the agency complaining about the evaluation. The agency treated the email as an untimely agency protest. The protester said it hadn’t meant to file an agency protest. GAO dismissed the protester’s argument.

NikSoft Systems Corporation, GAO B-421801

Inadvertent Agency Protest – On June 15, the agency notified the protester it had not been selected for award. Only July 6, the protester emailed the agency, disputing weaknesses assessed to its proposal. The agency treated this email as an agency protest. The agency dismissed the protest as untimely because it had not been filed within 10 days of the award notification.
Untimely GAO Protest – The protester then filed a GAO protest. GAO determined the GAO protest was untimely. If an agency protest is untimely, any subsequent protest to GAO will also be untimely. The protester argued it had never filed an agency protest. GAO disagreed. The protester had received a notice of exclusion that sufficiently detailed the basis of the decision. The protest clock ran from the date of that notification. The agency protest was late, as was the GAO protest.

NikSoft is represented by Manesh Gupta. The agency is represented by Emily Vartaniam of the Library of Congress. GAO attorneys Paula A. Williams, Michael Willems, and Evan D. Wesser participated in the decision.

--Case summary by Craig LaChance, Senior Editor

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