Decision Released: US Army xTechScalable AI Competition Announcement for Technology Solutions Protest Dismissal

File Number: B-422365, B-422365.2, B-422365.3

Digest

1. Request that protest be dismissed as outside the Government Accountability Office’s jurisdiction is denied where successful participation in the initial phases of a three-phase competition was not merely to result in cash prizes but was also to serve as a prerequisite to compete for a small business innovation research direct to phase II contract award.
2. Protest challenging the competition is dismissed where the various allegations are founded on an untimely challenge to the terms of the competition announcement and where the various additional allegations fail to establish a valid basis of protest.

Discussion

ARiA challenges the agency’s decision not to select its concept white paper in the first round of the competition. The protester argues the agency “took actions that were arbitrary and capricious by applying improper, inconsistent, and arbitrary criteria in the evaluation of ARiA’s proposal in a manner so as to uniquely disadvantage ARiA and bias and prejudice the contracting process against ARiA.” Protest at 1. In its various protest submissions, ARiA has raised arguments that are in addition to, or variations of, those specifically discussed below. While we do not specifically address all of ARiA’s arguments, we have considered all of them and find that they afford no basis on which to maintain the protest under our Bid Protest Regulations.

As discussed below, we conclude that ARiA’s protests are untimely and fail to state a valid basis of protest. Before we address those conclusions, we first address a procedural question of jurisdiction that was raised by the agency …

Decision

ARiA, a small business of Madison, Virginia, protests the Department of the Army’s decision not to select its concept white paper pursuant to the Army’s “xTechScalable Artificial Intelligence (AI) Competition Announcement” for technology solutions. The competition announcement provided for three rounds of competition that ultimately may result in a small business innovation research (SBIR) direct to phase II contract award. The protester raises various challenges to the first round of competition.

We dismiss the protests.

Read the decision here.

🔊 Listen to Story