United International Investigative Services, Inc., B-286327, October 25, 2000

B-286327 Oct 25, 2000 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights A firm protested the United States Marshals Service's (USMS) rejection of its bid for court security services, contending that USMS improperly evaluated its bid. GAO held that the protester untimely filed its protest after the contract was awarded. Accordingly, the protest was dismissed. View Decision Matter of: United International Investigative Services, Inc. File: B-286327 Date: October 25, 2000 DIGEST Attorneys DECISION United International Investigative Services, Inc. (UIIS) protests the bases for the United States Marshals Service's exclusion of UIIS's proposal from the competitive range under request for proposals (RFP) No. MS-00-R-0005 to provide court security services. We dismiss the protest as untimely. BACKGROUND On April 5, 2000, the agency issued RFP No. MS-00-R-0005 seeking proposals to provide court security services in the 7th and 9th judicial circuits. /1/ On May 10, UIIS submitted its proposal responding to this solicitation. Thereafter, the agency evaluated UIIS's proposal as having various deficiencies with regard to, among other things, contract management and past performance. On June 8, the agency notified UIIS that its proposal had not been included in the competitive range. UIIS responded by letter dated June 9, stating: In accordance with [Federal Acquisition Regulation] FAR 15.505, United Investigative Services Inc. requests a debriefing in response to the Government's determination of exclusion of UIIS from the competitive range . . . . As provided in FAR 15.505(a)(2), UIIS requests that this debriefing be delayed until after award. Letter from UIIS to Contracting Officer (June 9, 2000). Consistent with UIIS's request, the agency did not schedule a pre-award debriefing. On September 13, the agency awarded contracts for court security services in both judicial circuits to another offeror. Thereafter, the agency provided UIIS with a written debriefing, received by UIIS on September 19, in which the agency identified the various proposal deficiencies which had led to exclusion of UIIS's proposal from the competitive range. On September 22, UIIS filed this protest challenging the agency's evaluation of its proposal. The agency requests that UIIS's proposal be dismissed as untimely, arguing among other things, that by specifically requesting that the agency delay any debriefing until after a contract had been awarded, UIIS failed to diligently pursue the information on which its protest is based. The agency notes that, in requesting the post award debriefing, UIIS specifically referenced the FAR provision which warns offerors that such requests for delayed debriefings "could affect the timeliness of any protest filed subsequent to the debriefing." FAR Sec. 15.505(a)(2). /2/ This Office's bid protest timeliness rules provide that protests, other than those based on alleged solicitation improprieties, shall be filed not later than 10 days after the basis of the protest is known or should have been known, with the exception of protests challenging a procurement "under which a debriefing is requested and, when requested, is required." Bid Protest Regulations, 4 C.F.R. Sec. 21.2(a)(2) (2000). Here, UIIS asserts that its protest is timely because it was filed within 10 days after its September 19 receipt of the debriefing. We disagree. The Competition in Contracting Act (CICA), as amended, requires that offerors who are excluded from the competitive range must be debriefed by the procuring agency if, within 3 days after receiving notice of such exclusion, the offeror requests a pre-award debriefing. Specifically, that statute states: (1) When the contracting officer excludes an offeror . . . from the competitive range . . . the excluded offeror may request in writing, within 3 days after the date on which the excluded offeror receives notice of its exclusion, a debriefing prior to award. . . . (2) The contracting officer is required to debrief an excluded offeror in accordance with subsection (e) [which provides for post-award debriefings] only if that offeror requested and was refused a preaward debriefing under paragraph (1) of this subsection. 41 U.S.C. Sec. 253b(f) (Supp. IV 1998) (emphasis added). As stated in our timeliness rules, a post-debriefing protest will be considered timely if filed as late as 10 days after the debriefing, even as to issues that should have been known before the debriefing, if that debriefing is "required." As noted above, Congress specifically addressed the issue of when agencies are required to give post-award debriefings to offerors excluded from the competitive range, stating that such debriefings are required "only if that [excluded] offeror requested and was refused a preaward debriefing." 41 U.S.C. Sec. 253b(f). Here, the record is clear that UIIS did not request a pre-award debriefing.