Latvian Connection, LLC

B-410947 Mar 31, 2015 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Latvian Connection, LLC, of Kuwait City, Kuwait, challenges its exclusion from the competition under solicitation No. FY15RR0024 (also identified as FedBid Buy No. 693101), issued by the Department of State (DOS) for first aid kits and related medical supplies. Latvian Connection argues that it has been improperly excluded from competing for this procurement, which is being conducted on behalf of the agency by FedBid, Inc. We sustain the protest. We sustain the protest. View Decision Decision Matter of: Latvian Connection, LLC File: B-410947 Date: March 31, 2015 Keven L. Barnes, for the protester. Dennis Gallagher, Esq., Department of State, and Laura Mann Eyester, Esq., Small Business Administration, for the agencies. Cherie J. Owen, Esq., and David A. Ashen, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Protest is sustained where FedBid, acting as the agent for the contracting agency, excluded the protester, a small business, from the competition based on a perceived lack of business integrity, in effect making a negative responsibility determination, without referring the matter to the Small Business Administration under the Certificate of Competency procedures. DECISION Latvian Connection, LLC, of Kuwait City, Kuwait, challenges its exclusion from the competition under solicitation No. FY15RR0024 (also identified as FedBid Buy No. 693101), issued by the Department of State (DOS) for first aid kits and related medical supplies. Latvian Connection argues that it has been improperly excluded from competing for this procurement, which is being conducted on behalf of the agency by FedBid, Inc. We sustain the protest. BACKGROUND The solicitation, issued on December 19, 2014, and set aside for small businesses, sought a contractor to provide first aid kits and related medical supplies to be used in a training exercise, to be conducted from May 10 to May 28, 2015, with the Jordanian Police Force at the Jordanian International Police Training Center in Jordan. The procurement was conducted through FedBid, a commercial online procurement services provider that operates a website at www.FedBid.com which, among other things, hosts reverse auctions. The estimated value of the procurement was approximately $5,000. Agency Report (AR), Tab 1, FedBid Buy Details. The procurement here was being conducted using FedBid’s reverse auction platform. In order to respond to solicitations posted on FedBid, prospective vendors or offerors must have a valid FedBid account. FedBid’s terms of use provide that “FedBid may refuse the Services to any person or any entity at any time, in FedBid’s sole discretion.” http://www.fedbid.com/terms. FedBid suspended the protester’s account on July 8, 2014. Protest, Attach. 9, FedBid Suspension E-mail, July 8, 2014, at 1. In this regard, FedBid provided the protester with the following explanation of the decision to suspend it: System and Business Integrity: Latvian Connection has taken actions to repeatedly and purposely interfere with FedBid’s business relationships. Right to Terminate: Latvian Connection’s use of the FedBid marketplace demonstrates that Latvian Connection has not used (and does not intend to use) the FedBid marketplace as required in the FedBid Terms of Use. Id. Since Latvian Connection’s FedBid account was suspended, the firm was unable to compete for the procurement. Latvian Connection filed this bid protest prior to the January 2, 2015 closing date, challenging its inability to compete for this requirement. DISCUSSION Latvian Connection argues that its exclusion from the competition constitutes either a negative responsibility determination, which should have been referred to the Small Business Administration (SBA), or an improper de facto debarment. Interested Party Status As a preliminary matter, DOS contends that Latvian Connection is not an interested party to protest this procurement, arguing that the protester’s mere assertion that it would submit an offer, if permitted to do so, lacks credibility given the firm’s lack of experience in federal government contracting and history of protesting a wide array of procurements. AR at 7. The agency also argues that Latvian Connection’s protest makes no representations to demonstrate that it had the actual capacity or intention to submit an offer. Id. Under our Bid Protest Regulations, we will only consider protests filed by an “interested party,” that is, an actual or prospective offeror whose direct economic interest would be affected by the award of a contract or the failure to award a contract. 4 C.F.R. § 21.0(a). Determining whether a party is interested involves consideration of a variety of factors, including the nature of the issues raised, the benefit or relief sought by the protester, and the party’s status in relation to the procurement.