Case No. B-422550.2
Digest
Protest that agency improperly canceled sole-source contract in favor of a competitive procurement is dismissed because the allegation that an agency should solicit a requirement on a sole-source basis is not for GAO’s review.
Discussion
The agency procured a subscription to UpToDate’s product on a sole-source basis. Protest at 1. J.E. Federal Enterprises, LLC, protested with our Office the reasonableness of that contract award–as well as the award of a sole-source interim or “bridge” contract. GAO dismissed those protests when the agency indicated its intent to take corrective action, namely, terminating the contracts and conducting a competitive procurement to meet its point-of-care database requirement. See J.E. Federal Enterprises, LLC, B-422495, B-422550, May 13, 2024 (unpublished decision). This protest, challenging the reasonableness of the contract termination, followed.
UpToDate asserts that it provides the only product capable of meeting DHA’s requirement. Protest at 7. The protester argues, therefore, that “DHA’s decision to terminate the contract as a corrective action in response to J.E. Federal’s protest was improper.” Id. at 9. UpToDate requests that GAO “recommend that DHA not terminate UpToDate, Inc.’s contract and conduct a new solicitation when DHA already knows that only one offeror can meet its requirements.” Id. at 11.
The agency requests dismissal of the protest. Req. for Dismissal at 1-2. DHA argues that “GAO has held that it ‘will not review protests which seek to mandate a sole-source award, or, put differently, seek the remedy of a sole-source award.’” Id. at 2, quoting Rante Corp.–Recon., B-411188.2, Sept. 30, 2015, 2015 CPD ¶ 307 at 3. The agency asserts that, “[i]n essence, UpToDate argues that DHA is required to reinstate the sole source award and not compete its requirements.” …
Decision
UpToDate, Inc., of Waltham, Massachusetts, protests the decision of the Defense Health Agency (DHA) to cancel contract No. HT001124C0010, awarded to UpToDate by DHA for a commercial-off-the-shelf point-of-care clinical decision support tool. The protester contends that DHA’s decision to terminate UpToDate’s contract was improper.
We dismiss the protest.
Related
Protests Dismissed: Defense Health Agency Clinical Decision Support Tool contracts
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