GAO dismisses American Tech Solutions protest as academic following agency’s corrective action (AI)

American Tech Solutions, LLC filed a protest with the Government Accountability Office (GAO) challenging the Department of the Air Force’s issuance of a task order to Obsidian Global LLC under fair opportunity proposal request No. FA3002-22-R-0026 for services and equipment to sustain and deploy graduate/training integration management system software and architecture. The protester challenged the agency’s evaluation of proposals under the technical factor, the evaluation of the awardee’s proposal under the past performance factor, and the best-value tradeoff decision.

On May 30, 2023, the agency informed the GAO that it had decided to take corrective action, to include reevaluating the offerors’ technical proposals and making a new best-value tradeoff decision. In response to our subsequent request for clarification, the agency stated that it did not intend to reevaluate the offerors’ past performance proposal volumes. The agency stated that its intention was to reevaluate the offerors’ technical proposal volumes and to conduct a new best-value tradeoff using the previous evaluations of price and past performance, as well as the new technical evaluations. The agency further stated that it reserved the right to take any other corrective action it deemed appropriate.

The GAO dismissed the protest as academic on May 31, as the agency’s proposed corrective action would supersede and potentially alter prior procurement actions. Essentially, the decision would be academic where the agency’s reevaluation of technical proposals and preparation of a new award decision may result in the requester being selected for the award.

Lessons for contractors:

• Contractors should be aware of the potential consequences of the agency’s proposed corrective actions when filing a protest.
• When an agency proposes corrective action that may supersede and potentially alter prior procurement actions, the protest may be dismissed as academic, and the contractor may not be able to continue challenging the prior actions.
• Contractors should be proactive in monitoring the agency’s actions and ensuring that their concerns are being properly addressed to protect their rights in the procurement process.

This summary was AI generated on 1 August 2023 at Jason Bakke’s request.