Latvian Connection LLC

B-413442 Aug 18, 2016 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Latvian Connection, LLC, of Healdsburg, California, and Kuwait City, Kuwait, protests the issuance of a task order by the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) to ManTech Advanced Systems International, Inc. for engineering services. Latvian Connection maintains that the agency improperly failed to both set the acquisition aside for small businesses, and post the solicitation on the Federal Business Opportunities (FedBizOpps) website. We dismiss the protest. We dismiss the protest. View Decision Decision Matter of:  Latvian Connection LLC File:  B-413442 Date:  August 18, 2016 Keven Barnes, Latvian Connection LLC, for the protester. Daniel C. McIntosh, Esq., Defense Information Systems Agency, for the agency. Scott H. Riback, Esq., Heather Weiner, Esq., Tania Calhoun, Esq., Kenneth E. Patton, Esq., and Ralph O. White, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST 1.  GAO lacks jurisdiction to hear protest challenging the issuance of a task order under a multiple-award, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (ID/IQ) contract where the value of the order is below the $10 million threshold for GAO task order protest jurisdiction. 2.  Protester is not an interested party to challenge the issuance of a task order where the protester does not hold one of the ID/IQ contracts under which the protested order has been issued. 3.  Protest challenging the issuance of a task order to a large business concern is dismissed for abuse of process, and the protester is suspended from protesting for a period of one year, where the protester has submitted 150 protests this fiscal year, challenging an array of acquisitions (some of which were fully performed years earlier) conducted by a host of contracting agencies worldwide; has repeatedly failed to demonstrate that it is capable of, or interested in, performing the solicited requirements; and has repeatedly failed to engage constructively on the substantive and threshold issues raised by its protests. DECISION Latvian Connection, LLC, of Healdsburg, California, and Kuwait City, Kuwait, protests the issuance of a task order by the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) to ManTech Advanced Systems International, Inc. for engineering services.  Latvian Connection maintains that the agency improperly failed to both set the acquisition aside for small businesses, and post the solicitation on the Federal Business Opportunities (FedBizOpps) website. We dismiss the protest. BACKGROUND Latvian Connection, which represents that it is a service-disabled veteran-owned small business (SDVOSB), is a frequent protester in our Office.  In this protest, Latvian Connection challenges the issuance of a task order under a multiple‑award, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (ID/IQ) contract awarded to ManTech in 2011.  The task order at issue in the protest, HC1028‑12‑D‑0026, Modification No. 11, was issued to ManTech on September 27, 2013, and called for full performance by January 31, 2016.  The total value of the task order was $1,360,923.93.  In response to the protest, DISA submitted a request for dismissal, arguing that GAO lacks jurisdiction to hear the protest because it challenges a task order valued below $10 million.  Agency Dismissal Request at 2.  The agency also contends that Latvian Connection is not an interested party to pursue the protest because it is not one of the awardees of the ID/IQ contract.  Id. at 1-2.  In response to the dismissal request, Latvian Connection submitted 25 pages of excerpts cut and pasted from a variety of documents, none of which addresses the agency’s contentions.  For example, Latvian Connection provides no response to the agency’s assertion that the value of the task order is below the $10 million threshold required for GAO task order jurisdiction.  Latvian Connection also fails to provide any response to the agency’s argument that Latvian Connection is not an interested party because it does not hold one of the ID/IQ contracts.  In addition to the instant protest, our records show that, thus far this fiscal year, Latvian Connection has filed 150 protests with our Office.[1]  Of the 131 protests closed to date this fiscal year, one was denied on the merits.  The remaining protests were dismissed, the most common reason being that Latvian Connection was not an interested party.[2]  A number of Latvian Connection’s most recent protests, like the instant protest, have been attempts to challenge acquisitions where the contract in question was awarded years ago. Latvian Connection’s protests have challenged the acquisitions of a wide range of federal agencies.  In fiscal year 2016, Latvian Connection’s protests include challenges to acquisitions conducted by the Department of Defense; Department of the Army; U.S.