Decision Released: Operations and Maintenance of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) information system (OIS) protest denial

File No. B-420960.7

Digest

Request that GAO recommend reimbursement of protest costs is granted in part where the agency unduly delayed taking corrective action in response to clearly meritorious protest arguments and denied in part where other protest grounds were not clearly meritorious or where the agency took prompt corrective action.

Discussion

2TechJV requests that our Office recommend reimbursement of its attorneys’ fees and costs incurred in pursuing all its protest grounds. Req. for Costs at 6-7. In support of its request, 2TechJV contends that its protest was clearly meritorious, that the agency unduly delayed in taking corrective action, and that all 2TechJV’s allegations are intertwined and therefore not severable. Id. DOL contends that its corrective action was not unduly delayed and that, in any event, the allegations were not clearly meritorious. Resp. to Req. for Costs at 2-3.

When a procuring agency takes corrective action in response to a protest, our Office may recommend reimbursement of protest costs under 4 C.F.R. § 21.8(e) if we determine that the agency unduly delayed taking corrective action in the face of a clearly meritorious protest. Odyssey Sys. Consulting Grp., Ltd.–Costs, B‑419730.5, Sep. 30, 2021, 2021 CPD ¶ 335 at 4. This principle is intended to prevent inordinate delay in investigating the merits of a protest and taking corrective action once an error is evident, so that a protester will not incur unnecessary effort and expense in pursuing its remedies before our Office. Id. A protest is clearly meritorious when reasonable …

Decision

2TechJV, LLC, of Woodbridge, Virginia, requests that we recommend the Department of Labor (DOL) reimburse the firm its reasonable costs of pursuing its protest of the issuance of a task order to Addx Corporation, of Alexandria, Virginia, under request for quotations (RFQ) No. 1605TA-22-Q-00044. DOL issued the RFQ for services that support the operations and maintenance of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) information system (OIS). The protester argued that the agency’s conduct of discussions was misleading, that the agency’s evaluation of technical quotations was unreasonable, and that the agency’s best-value tradeoff analysis was flawed.

We grant the request in part and deny it in part.

Read the decision here.

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