Protester Alleged Agency Wrongly Excluded Its Proposal. But GAO Found the Protester Had Misread the Solicitation.

The agency excluded the protester’s proposal from consideration for one domain number under an IDIQ contract because the protester’s subcontractor exceeded the size standard. The protester claimed the solicitation required the agency to only consider the size of parties actually proposed for each domain. GAO found the plain language of the RFP contradicted the protester’s interpretation. All team members proposed by an offeror had to meet the size requirement for any domain in which the offeror wanted to compete. The agency did not need to narrow its consideration to team members proposed to each domain.

Wits Solutions, Inc., GAO B-421775.14

• Domains – The OASIS+ contract consists of six distinct IDIQ contract vehicles for different socioeconomic programs. The “small business” vehicle has seven domains. These domains are “within the scope of the Master Contract” and listed associated NAICS codes with the appropriate size standards for each domain.
• Protest – One of the protester’s proposed subcontractors did not qualify as a small business for one of the three domains the protester competed for. Therefore, the agency excluded the protester from consideration for that domain. The protester claimed the exclusion was inconsistent with the terms of the solicitation. The protester argued the solicitation specified that the agency would check the size standards of subcontractors only according to whether they were proposed for a particular domain. Since all the parties the protester specifically proposed for each domain satisfied the size standards for that particular domain, the protester reasoned it should not have been eliminated.
• Decision – GAO found that the plain language of the RFP indicated that offerors would only be awarded domains in which the offeror and ALL proposed subcontractors qualified as small under the associated size standard. Contrary to the protester’s reading, the solicitation did specify that the agency would check the size standards of subcontractors according to whether they were proposed for a specific domain. GAO denied the protest.

The protester was represented by Aron C. Beezley, Patrick R. Quigley, and Erik M. Coon of Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP.  The agency was represented by Christopher Murphy of GSA. April Y. Shields and Christina Sklarew of GAO participated in the preparation of the decision.

— Summary by Joshua Lim, Assistant Editor