Daniel Eke and Associates, P.C.

B-271962 Jul 09, 1996 Jump To VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Protest that firm should be excluded from the competition for an economic development contract in Uganda based upon its prior involvement in preparing a concept paper for the project is denied where the record shows that the concept paper did not lead directly. That the concept paper is a publicly available document. That any competitive advantage obtained by the firm by virtue of its preparation of the concept paper was not created by any improper preference or other unfair action by the agency. BACKGROUND The goal of the PRESTO Project is to raise low incomes in Uganda by increasing employment and productivity in micro-. AID/Uganda was required to prepare and obtain internal approval of a project paper. View Decision Matter of: Daniel Eke and Associates, P.C. File: B-271962 Date: July 9, 1996 Protest that firm should be excluded from the competition for an economic development contract in Uganda based upon its prior involvement in preparing a concept paper for the project is denied where the record shows that the concept paper did not lead directly, predictably, and without delay to the solicitation's work statement; that the concept paper is a publicly available document; and that any competitive advantage obtained by the firm by virtue of its preparation of the concept paper was not created by any improper preference or other unfair action by the agency. Attorneys DECISION Daniel Eke and Associates, P.C., protests the decision of the Agency for International Development (AID) to allow certain firms to compete under request for proposals (RFP) No. UGANDA 961 to implement the Private Enterprise Support, Training and Organizational Development (PRESTO) Project in Uganda. Daniel Eke contends that these firms should be excluded from the competition based upon their prior involvement in preparing a concept paper for the Project. We deny the protest. BACKGROUND The goal of the PRESTO Project is to raise low incomes in Uganda by increasing employment and productivity in micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises. AID's Uganda Mission (AID/Uganda) anticipates achieving this goal through three mutually reinforcing areas of assistance: increasing access to microfinancial services; strengthening business associations; and improving the policy and regulatory environment for business start-up and expansion. Although it had already analyzed the development problems faced by small Ugandan businesses, the agency wanted additional study before submitting the project for final review and funding. To that end, AID/Uganda procured consulting services under the agency's Growth and Equity through Microenterprise Investments and Institutions (GEMINI) contract, as well as another AID contract, to obtain a "concept paper" analysis of microenterprise credit, and of non-financial, technical assistance and training for microenterprises. The GEMINI Team [1] visited Uganda during February and March 1995. The Team met with AID staff, visited Ugandan businesses, interviewed Ugandan businesspeople, and reviewed publicly available literature on private sector development in the country. Contrary to AID/Uganda's expectation, the Team did not deliver the concept paper prior to departing Uganda in March. Instead, the agency received only rough, incomplete, and inaccurate individual Team members' drafts, and the Team leader's promise to forward a completed concept paper within weeks. The concept paper did not arrive as promised. AID/Uganda was required to prepare and obtain internal approval of a project paper--which contains a detailed justification of the project's feasibility, an estimated budget, an implementation plan, and expected results--in order to receive funding for the PRESTO Project. In April and May, the then-Chief of AID/Uganda's General Development Office (GDO) and its current Chief wrote the project paper. Both state that they did not rely upon the concept paper because DAI had not provided it, but that, as discussed below, they did adopt certain broad and fairly generic ideas which evolved from the GEMINI Team's work in Uganda. The project paper, absent any competitively sensitive information, was made publicly available in July. The current Chief of the GDO began writing the solicitation's statement of work (SOW) in September and completed it in late November. He states that he relied exclusively upon the project paper, and did not use the concept paper, which arrived in October. He explains that, by this time, there was already a working draft of the SOW, and AID had no need to refer to what he terms the "obsolete" concept paper. This concept paper is also a publicly available document. In accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Sec. 9.504(a), before the solicitation was issued, the contracting officer considered whether any organizational conflict of interest (OCI) existed with regard to the GEMINI Team.