Decision released for protest denial on $5B+ FBI ITSSS-2 IDIQ

DIGEST

1. Protester’s complaints regarding the agency’s evaluation of its quotation during an initial phase of the procurement are premature where the agency has not made any award and has not excluded the protester from the competition.
2. Protester’s speculation regarding the agency’s future actions do not establish a basis for protest.

DISCUSSION

E&Y protests that the agency’s assignment of a low confidence rating to E&Y’s quotation under the phase 1 evaluation was unreasonable and contrary to the terms of the solicitation.  Protest at 1.     The jurisdiction of our Office is established by the bid protest provisions of the Competition in Contracting Act of 1984, 31 U.S.C. §§ 3551-3557.  Pursuant to that authority, our Office’s jurisdiction extends to bid protests that challenge:  a solicitation; the cancellation of a solicitation; an award or proposed award of a contract; or a termination of such contract, if the protest alleges that the termination was based on improprieties in the award of the contract.  31 U.S.C. §§ 3551(1).  In this context, a protester’s speculation regarding an agency’s subsequent actions do not establish a basis for protest.  See SparkSoft Corp., B-420156, B-420156.2, Nov. 15, 2021, 2021 CPD ¶ 362 at 4-7; Systems Implementers, Inc., B-418963.4, Apr. 19, 2021, 2021 CPD ¶ 174 at 3-4.  Here, as noted above, the agency has not excluded E&Y from continuing to compete for an award; nor has the agency made, or proposed to make, any awards in this procurement.  Indeed, the terms of the solicitation, as well as the notice to E&Y, specifically provide that E&Y is eligible to continue competing for an award.  Accordingly, the record here does not currently present a set of facts that GAO will consider pursuant to our bid protest authority.  While the agency’s future actions in this matter may create a set of facts appropriate for our consideration, E&Y’s current protest, based on its assumptions regarding the agency’s future actions, is premature and will not be considered…

DECISION

Ernst & Young LLP (E&Y), of New York, New York, protests the Department of Justice’s evaluation of E&Y’s quotation under request for quotations (RFQ) No. 1629665 to provide professional and information technology support services.  E&Y asserts that, based on the agency’s evaluation of E&Y’s quotation during the first phase of the procurement, its quotation was “effectively eliminate[d]” from further consideration.  Protest at 3.1       We dismiss the protest.

See the decision here.

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