GOV Services, Inc.

B-414226.2 Jun 26, 2017 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights GOV Services, Inc., a small business, of Falls Church, Virginia, requests that we recommend that it be reimbursed the reasonable costs of filing and pursuing its protest of the award of a sole-source contract to Akima Support Operations (ASO), an Alaska Native Corporation, of Anchorage, Alaska, under purchase order No. HHSN263201700048P, issued by the Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health (NIH), for janitorial services at NIH campuses in Maryland. GOV Services argues that its protest was clearly meritorious and that the agency unduly delayed taking corrective action. We grant the request. We grant the request. View Decision DOCUMENT FOR PUBLIC RELEASE The decision issued on the date below was subject to a GAO Protective Order. This version has been approved for public release. Decision Matter of:  GOV Services, Inc.--Costs File:  B-414226.2 Date:  June 26, 2017 Milton C. Johns, Esq., and Richard C. Gross, Esq., Fluet Huber and Hoang, PLLC, for the protester. Anson Obayuwana, Esq., and Erin V. Podolny, Esq., Department of Health and Human Services, for the agency. Elizabeth Witwer, Esq., and Jennifer D. Westfall-McGrail, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Protester’s request for a recommendation that it be reimbursed its costs of filing and pursuing its protest is granted, where the record shows that the agency unduly delayed taking corrective action in the face of a clearly meritorious protest. DECISION GOV Services, Inc., a small business, of Falls Church, Virginia, requests that we recommend that it be reimbursed the reasonable costs of filing and pursuing its protest of the award of a sole‑source contract to Akima Support Operations (ASO), an Alaska Native Corporation, of Anchorage, Alaska, under purchase order No. HHSN263201700048P, issued by the Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health (NIH), for janitorial services at NIH campuses in Maryland.  GOV Services argues that its protest was clearly meritorious and that the agency unduly delayed taking corrective action. We grant the request. BACKGROUND This is the seventh challenge to a series of actions taken by the NIH related to the award of contracts for janitorial services at NIH campuses in Maryland.[1]  Two contracts are relevant here:  (1) the contract that is the subject of this protest, the sole-source contract awarded to ASO in November 2016 pursuant to the authority cited in Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) § 6.302-2; and (2) the contract awarded to the incumbent contractor, East West, Inc., in February 2015.  The NIH contends that the sole-source award to ASO was necessary because the incumbent contractor “walked off the job.”  Agency Report (AR), Tab 4, Contracting Officer’s Statement (COS), at 5.[2]  We provide below a brief history of both contracts. On February 2, 2015, the NIH awarded contract No. HHSN263201500012I for janitorial services to East West, Inc., a firm that is not a party to this protest (hereinafter “the incumbent”).  Id. at 3.  The procurement was conducted under the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) section 8(a) program.[3]  Id. at 2; AR, Tab 6, Request for Proposals (RFP) No. 263-2008-P(GG)-0238.  The contract consisted of a base year, from February 2, 2015 through February 1, 2016, and four option years.  AR, Tab 4, COS, at 3. On December 1, 2015, towards the end of the base year, the agency decided not to exercise the option year under the contract and informed the incumbent of this decision on December 2.  Id. at 4.  In order to procure follow-on services, the NIH issued request for quotations (RFQ) No. 1062534 on January 30, 2016.  See East West, Inc., supra, at 2.