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Request for Reconsideration

B-199578.2 Nov 07, 1980
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Highlights

A company requested reconsideration of a decision in which GAO dismissed in part, and summarily denied in part, its protest of the award of a contract by the District of Columbia Department of General Services (DGS). The company contended that its protest should not have been dismissed as untimely, because (1) it was unreasonable to expect it to protest before the bid opening where the actions complained of took place close to the bid opening, and (2) that the protest raised significant issues and thereby qualified it for consideration under bid protest procedures. The portion of the protest dismissed as untimely dealt with a solicitation restriction and had nothing to do with any actions immediately preceding the bid opening. Secondly, the significant issue exception to the timeliness requirement is invoked sparingly, and only where an issue is of widespread interest or affects a broad class of procurements. For the first time in its protest, the company identified specific solicitation provisions which it believed were definitive bidder responsibility criteria that were not satisfied by the awardee. The requirement that the bidder have warehousing and distributing facilities within the metropolitan area of the District of Columbia appeared to be such a criterion. If the company had specifically asserted non-compliance with this provision in its initial protest, the matter would have been considered. However, since it did not raise this issue initially, GAO doubted that any useful purpose would be served in examining it at such a late date. For the foregoing reasons, the original decision was affirmed.

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