The Court of Federal Claims explained in the recent bid protest Insight Systems Corp. v. United States, Nos. 12-863C and 12-883C (Fed. Cl. May 6, 2013), that it has seen “with disturbing frequency . . . bid protests that find [the Government] straining to defend agency decisions to reject, as purportedly late, proposals submitted by contractors electronically.” The Court noted that…
When preparing proposals and hiring personnel to perform a contract, contractors must be careful to avoid a “bait and switch” involving key personnel. In Dorado Services, Inc., B-408075 (Comp. Gen. June 14, 2013), the Department of the Navy, Naval Facilities Engineering Command issued a request for proposals for base support services including heating, ventilation, air conditioning,…
Corrective action is reviewable, but it is not easy to overturn, as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Alutiiq Pacific LLC (Alutiiq), respectively, learned not too long ago, in Findings and Recommendations from FAA’s Office of Dispute Resolution for Acquisition (ODRA).
After Alutiiq initially won an FAA award, a disappointed offeror, American Eagle Protective Services (AEPS),…
Congratulations! Your company just won a significant, best value procurement, beating out the incumbent and others based primarily on low price. However, the disappointed incumbent has protested the award, creating a not uncommon good news/bad news scenario. The good news is that you believe the protest is either untimely or otherwise without merit. The bad news is that the agency has decided to…
An issue frequently confronted by offerors in proposal preparation is the extent to which the offeror may modify or change its initial proposal in response to a narrow RFP amendment after the submission and evaluation of initial proposals. This issue is particularly prevalent in cases involving RFP amendments after the agency agrees to implement corrective action to address a specific…
The Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) expects offerors to bear the burden of submitting the past performance information they wish an agency to consider in evaluating their proposals. In the recently decided protest FN Manufacturing LLC (“FNM”), B-407936 (Comp. Gen. April 19, 2013), the GAO stated it sees “no basis for concluding” that an agency is “required to search for…
With the winding down of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, active duty military units are returning from overseas to their U.S. bases. One such military base is Fort Bragg. The Army, however, does not know exactly how many soldiers from the drawdown will be stationed at Fort Bragg. As a result, the Court of Federal Claims explained, “[I]t is unclear how much food will need…
A recently publicized GAO decision, IBM Corp., U.S. Federal, B-406934 et al., provides a window into how IBM successfully challenged a Veteran’s Administration award to HP Enterprise Services, LLC (“HP”) in a best value procurement where technical factors were significantly more important than price. According to IBM, the agency misevaluated proposals, erroneously concluding that IBM did…
As previously reported here, the Court of Federal Claims heard a bid protest in which the solicitation stated the deadline for proposal submission was 2:00 pm Central Time but the GSA’s e-Buy website, which was programmed to refuse proposals after 2:00 pm Eastern Time, rejected as untimely the protestor’s proposal submitted at 1:03 pm Central Time. Sound unnecessarily complicated? Judge…
The Court of Federal Claims recently issued two decisions reinstating veteran-owned small businesses (“VOSBs”) in the Department of Veterans Affairs’ (“VA’s”) Veterans First Contracting Program, after they were held ineligible by the VA’s Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization (“OSDBU”). SeeKWV, Inc. v. United States, No. 12-882C (Fed. Cl. Jan. 25, 2013) and Miles…
Experienced government contractors generally know how to submit timely and complete proposal packages. They also know the consequences for failing to do so. These well known consequences were highlighted in the recent Federal Circuit decision of Orion Technology, Inc. v. United States, No. 2012-5062 (Fed. Cir. Jan. 14, 2013).
The Army’s Mission and Installation Contracting Command…
A recent protest decision underscores the importance of fair discussions in task order procurements and the difficulties agencies can face when they change their story mid-stream. Mission Essential Personnel, LLC, B-407474; B-407493 (January 7, 2013) involved a pair of task order awards for intelligence support services in Afghanistan under a multiple award IDIQ contract. Asserting…
