GAO Sustains Bid Protest: Calls for Re-evaluation Due to Unreasonable Assessment of Subcontractor Experience The Government Accountability Office

GAO Sustains Bid Protest: Calls for Re-evaluation Due to Unreasonable Assessment of Subcontractor Experience The Government Accountability Office

sustained a bid protest by IDEMIA National Security Solutions, LLC of a contract to Guidehouse LLP issued

by the Department of Homeland Security. The GAO found that the DHS’s assessment of a significant weakness to IDEMIA for failing to demonstrate experience was unreasonable, as such assessment did not consider the experience of IDEMIA’s proposed subcontractor.

Although the DHS argued that it was concerned about IDEMIA’s own lack of experience, the GAO noted that the RFP allowed offerors to demonstrate their prior experience via the experience of proposed subcontractors.

Accordingly, it found that the assessment of a significant weakness based on this factor was inconsistent with the terms of the solicitation and thus unreasonable.

The GAO cautioned that its decision should not be read to suggest that agencies may not evaluate the experience of prime contractors and subcontractors differently, as such matters are within the discretion of contracting agencies. However, in this instance, the GAO found decisive that the terms of the solicitation did not disclose that the experience of prime contractors and subcontractors would be weighed differently.

The GAO also concluded that this error resulted in competitive prejudice to IDEMIA, since the award to Guidehouse was based on a best-value tradeoff which incorrectly factored against IDEMIA a supposed risk due to its lack of experience.

As a result, in addition to the reimbursement of filing costs and attorneys’ fees, the GAO recommended that DHS conduct a new evaluation of proposals. If Guidehouse is not found to offer the best value to the government after that new evaluation, the GAO recommended that the agency terminate Guidehouse’s contract for convenience and award a contract to the firm offering the best value.