Request for Reconsideration

A firm requested reconsideration of a decision in which GAO sustained another firm's protest of two solicitations. The requesting firm, the awardee under both solicitations, argued that the protest was in part untimely and that the protester had not been prejudiced by the deficiencies GAO observed because it had been provided sufficient solicitation information. Thus, the protest should have been dismissed. GAO agreed that the protest was not filed in a timely manner under GAO procedures; however, Federal regulations provide for the consideration of untimely protests which raise issues significant to procurement practices and procedures. GAO held that the issue involving the recurring problem of proper procedures to be followed when employing life cycle cost analysis was of sufficient importance to warrant consideration of the untimely protest. The protester claimed that the awardee received, from the procurement officials, information which was not distributed among all competing firms. This gave the awardee an unfair advantage in bidding for the contract. As evidence of this, letters were produced which confirmed a correspondence between the solicitor and the awardee detailing solicitation information during the bidding period. GAO held that the original decision was correct in holding that this information was unfairly and arbitrarily disclosed, leading to unfair competition for the contract award. The requesting firm did not raise any new facts which would cause GAO to alter its prior decision. Accordingly, the decision was affirmed.