IGIT, Inc.

B-271823 Aug 01, 1996 Jump To VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Protest challenging contracting officer's decision to exclude protester from a competition because the protester possessed a page from the installation's solicitation register which included a lump-sum government estimate for the cost of the solicited work is sustained where there is no basis in the record to support a conclusion that the protester acted improperly in obtaining the document. Even though the document should have been returned to the contracting officer. BACKGROUND IGIT is the incumbent contractor currently providing laundry and dry cleaning services at Fort Leonard Wood under a contract awarded January 31. Although IGIT's initial contract was awarded for a period of 1 year with four 1-year options. View Decision Matter of: IGIT, Inc. File: B-271823 Date: August 1, 1996 Protest challenging contracting officer's decision to exclude protester from a competition because the protester possessed a page from the installation's solicitation register which included a lump-sum government estimate for the cost of the solicited work is sustained where there is no basis in the record to support a conclusion that the protester acted improperly in obtaining the document--even though the document should have been returned to the contracting officer--and where the information at issue could be provided to the other offerors to ameliorate any competitive advantage obtained by the protester with little damage to the integrity of the procurement. Attorneys DECISION IGIT, Inc. protests its exclusion from a competition for laundry and dry cleaning services at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, under request for proposals (RFP) No. DABT31-95-R-0017, issued by the Department of the Army. IGIT challenges as unreasonable the agency's decision to exclude it from the competition due to its possession of an agency document showing the lump-sum government estimate of the cost for these services. We sustain the protest. BACKGROUND IGIT is the incumbent contractor currently providing laundry and dry cleaning services at Fort Leonard Wood under a contract awarded January 31, 1995, using sealed bidding procedures. Although IGIT's initial contract was awarded for a period of 1 year with four 1-year options, the Army decided shortly after award to refrain from exercising the options. [1] Instead, the Army issued a new solicitation for these services on December 10, 1995. Proposals in response to the RFP were required by March 28, 1996. By letter dated March 4, 1996, IGIT's African-American president and owner, Mr. Dewell Reeves, complained to his congressional representative that the Army's decision not to exercise the options in IGIT's laundry services contract reflected a pattern of ongoing bad faith and racial bias on the part of contracting personnel at Fort Leonard Wood. Mr. Reeves appended to his letter a page from Fort Leonard Wood's solicitation register, an internal agency document, to demonstrate that the decision not to exercise the options was made within weeks after the initial contract award. [2] The document, as provided to the congressman, contained one line of information showing the solicitation number; a short description of the requirement ("laundry"); the status of the procurement ("preparing RFP"); a lump-sum figure (entitled "estimate"); and two dates representing internal agency milestones in the preparation of the solicitation. The document contained no markings indicating that it should be treated as confidential. It was dated August 18, 1995. The contracting officer at Fort Leonard Wood first learned of IGIT's letter to its congressman--and IGIT's possession of the lump-sum government estimate--on or about April 4, approximately 1 week after the receipt of initial proposals, when the installation's contracting personnel were provided the letter and its attachments with direction to prepare a draft reply to the congressional inquiry that followed receipt of the letter. Between April 4 and April 12, several contracting personnel at Fort Leonard Wood attempted to ascertain how IGIT came into possession of both the page from the solicitation register and the two internal memoranda prepared by the installation's Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization (SADBU) specialist. [3] By letter dated April 12, the contracting officer disqualified IGIT's proposal from further consideration in the ongoing competition. The letter, delivered by hand in a face-to-face meeting, justified the exclusion as follows: "Your Congressional inquiry . . . contained an excerpt of this directorate's solicitation register, which is not releasable to the general public.