CBCA 4996

DENIED IN PART AND DISMISSED IN PART: February 24, 2016 CBCA 4996 G2G, LLC, Appellant, v. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE, Respondent. Darren Rittenhouse, Sole Member of G2G, LLC, Gainesville, VA, appearing for Appellant. Lisa J. Obayashi and Heidi Bourgeois, Office of the General Counsel, United States Patent and Trademark Office, Department of Commerce, Alexandria, VA, counsel for Respondent. Before Board Judges DANIELS (Chairman), SHERIDAN, and ZISCHKAU. DANIELS, Board Judge. G2G, LLC (G2G), which held a contract with the Department of Commerce’s (DOC’s) Patent and Trademark Office (PTO), claimed entitlement to $1,296,168, which it characterized as “the remaining balance” of the contract. G2G also asked the contracting officer to place “the Contract requirement . . . back into [the] SBA [Small Business Administration] 8(a) program.” The contracting officer denied the claim and declined to address the request. G2G appealed the contracting officer’s decision. CBCA 4996 2 The PTO moves the Board to grant summary relief by denying and/or dismissing the appeal. G2G opposes the motion. We grant the motion and thereby deny the appeal in part and dismiss it in part. Uncontested Facts On September 8, 2009, the SBA and the DOC entered into a partnership agreement whereby the SBA delegated to the DOC the authority to award contracts under section 8(a) of the Small Business Act, 15 U.S.C. § 637(a) (2006). See also 13 CFR pt. 124 (2009); 48 CFR subpt. 19.8 (2008). All DOC contracting offices, including those of the PTO, were authorized to exercise this authority. This paragraph addresses a matter which is contested. The appeal file submitted by the PTO includes a letter dated September 8, 2009, through which the PTO offered to the SBA a requirement for general storage and delivery of stored goods by a specific contractor for the base period of October 1, 2009, to September 30, 2010, and four successive option periods of one year each. G2G maintains that because it has not been provided an “original electronic copy” of the offering letter which is contained in the appeal file, it cannot be certain that this letter was actually sent to the SBA. The contractor further maintains that even if the letter in the appeal file was sent, it is defective in that it does not include several items required by 13 CFR 124.502 and 48 CFR 19.804-2. The PTO asserts that the hard copy of the letter in the appeal file is genuine and that the agency no longer has a copy of the letter in electronic format. As we explain in the Discussion section of this decision, whether the letter was sent and whether it is defective are not dispositive of this case. Under the procedure described in the partnership agreement, if the SBA did not reject an offering within five working days of receipt of the offer, acceptance would be assumed unless an extension of time had been requested and approved. The record contains no indication of an SBA response to the offer contained in the PTO’s September 8, 2009, letter. On September 30, 2009, the PTO awarded to G2G the contract for the requirement offered to the SBA, for “general storage of stationary [sic], forms, publications, copier paper, and other miscellaneous items,” and for “transportation for delivery of inventory to [PTO] CBCA 4996 3 offices.”1 The contract’s duration was a base year of October 1, 2009, through September 30, 2010, with four successive option years following the base period. The contract contained clause H.2, “Option to Extend the Term of the Contract – Fixed-Price Contract.” This clause states: The Government has the option to extend the term of this contract for three (3) additional period(s).[2] If more than 30 days remain in the contract period of performance, the Government, without prior written notification, may exercise this option by issuing a contract modification. To exercise this option within the last thirty (30) days of the period of performance, the Government must provide to the Contractor written notification prior to that last 30-day period. This preliminary notification does not commit the Government to exercising the option.