[Request for Advance Decision Concerning the Propriety of the Award of Multiple Contracts]

The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts (AOC) requested an advance decision regarding the propriety of AOC determining that the minimum needs of the judiciary for computer assisted legal research required the award of multiple contracts under a request for proposals (RFP). AOC also requested an opinion on the propriety of using price as a basis for controlling access to the systems in the event of multiple awards. A firm's related protest of the AOC procurement was also considered. GAO found that AOC could properly make multiple awards where no single vendor could fulfill all of its requirements and that its proposal to limit access based on price was not objectionable since all competitors were advised of this intent prior to submitting their proposals. The firm protesting the procurement asked GAO to investigate the relationship between the incumbents and AOC, alleging an improper preference for the incumbents because: (1) AOC had sent the incumbent contractors courtesy copies of the AOC request to GAO for an advance decision, giving the incumbents a competitive advantage; (2) AOC had demonstrated prejudice in favor of the incumbents during a question and answer session at an offerers conference; and (3) the specifications in the RFP contained improprieties in various cost considerations. GAO found that: (1) since copies of the advance decision request were given to all vendors, no favoritism was shown to the incumbents; and (2) the protests concerning the question and answer session and the RFP specifications were untimely. GAO also noted that it did not conduct investigations in conjunction with protests and that the burden of proof was on the protester. Accordingly, the protest was denied in part and dismissed in part.