B-296984; B-296984.2; B-296984.3; B-296984.4; B-296993; B-296993.2;, WorldWide Language Resources, Inc.; SOS International Ltd., November 14, 2005

B-296984; B-296984.2; B-296984.3; B-296984.4; B-296993; B-296993.2;, WorldWide Language Resources, Inc.; SOS International Ltd., November 14, 2005 TITLE: B-296984; B-296984.2; B-296984.3; B-296984.4; B-296993; B-296993.2;, WorldWide Language Resources, Inc.; SOS International Ltd., November 14, 2005 BNUMBER: B-296984; B-296984.2; B-296984.3; B-296984.4; B-296993; B-296993.2; DATE: November 14, 2005 ************************************************************************************************************************************************** B-296984; B-296984.2; B-296984.3; B-296984.4; B-296993; B-296993.2;, WorldWide Language Resources, Inc.; SOS International Ltd., November 14, 2005 DOCUMENT FOR PUBLIC RELEASE The decision issued on the date below was subject to a GAO Protective Order. This redacted version has been approved for public release. Decision Matter of: WorldWide Language Resources, Inc.; SOS International Ltd. File: B-296984; B-296984.2; B-296984.3; B-296984.4; B-296993; B-296993.2; B-296993.3; B-296993.4 Date: November 14, 2005 Richard D. Lieberman, Esq., McCarthy, Sweeney & Harkaway, PC, for WorldWide Language Resources, Inc.; Alison L. Doyle, Esq. and Jeniffer M. De Jesus, Esq., McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP, for SOS International Ltd., the protesters. Thomas P. Barletta, Esq., Paul R. Hurst, Esq., and Michael C. Drew, Esq., Steptoe & Johnson LLP, for Russian and Eastern European Partnership, Inc., d/b/a Operational Support Services, an intervenor. Clarence D. Long, III, Esq., Paul D. Warring, Esq., and Edward N. Ramras, Esq., Department of the Air Force, for the agency. Edward Goldstein, Esq., and Christine S. Melody, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST 1. Protests challenging agency's award of sole-source contract for bilingual-bicultural advisors utilizing other than competitive procedures based on unusual and compelling urgency are sustained where the agency initially attempted to place the requirement under an environmental services contract, which, on its face, did not include within its scope the bilingual-bicultural advisor requirement. This obvious error constituted lack of advance planning, which compromised the agency's ability to obtain any meaningful competition and directly resulted in the sole-source award. 2. Justification and approval prepared in support of second sole-source award expanding the bilingual-bicultural advisor requirement was unreasonable where justification was premised on the conclusion that the awardee was the only responsible source, yet the capabilities of firms other than the awardee were not in fact considered. 3. Agency's request for dismissal of protests as untimely on the ground that announcement of contract award on the Department of Defense's official website, www.DefenseLink.mil, placed protesters on constructive notice of the award and thus required the protesters to file their protests within 10 days of the announcement is denied since DefenseLink has not been designated by statute or regulation as the public medium for announcement of procurement actions. DECISION WorldWide Language Resources, Inc. and SOS International, Ltd. (SOSi) protest the Department of the Air Force's award of two sole-source contracts (Nos. FA7012-05-C-0003 and FA7012-05-C-0020) to Russian and Eastern European Partnership, Inc. (REEP) d/b/a Operational Support Services (OSS), for individuals performing services as bilingual-bicultural advisor/subject matter experts (BBA-SME) in Iraq. WorldWide and SOSi argue that: (1) the Air Force did not have the claimed unusual and compelling urgency justifying the noncompetitive awards to OSS; (2) to the extent there were urgent requirements, the urgency was the result of the Air Force's lack of advance planning; (3) the Air Force unreasonably concluded that OSS was the only firm capable of meeting the BBA-SME requirements; and (4) the Air Force failed to obtain competition to the maximum extent practicable as required by statute and regulation. We sustain the protests. Background The protests concern two sole-source contracts, contract No. FA7012-05-C-0003 (with an estimated value of $10.7 million) and No. FA7012-05-C-0020 (with an estimated value of $35.5 million), awarded to OSS on December 3, 2004 and on July 29, 2005, respectively, both of which were to support the mission of the Multinational Forces-Iraq (MNF-I), particularly the Civil Affairs Command (CAC).