Wolverton Property Management, LLC

B-415295.4 Jun 06, 2018 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Wolverton Property Management, LLC, of Saucier, Mississippi, requests that our Office reconsider our decision dismissing, for failure to comment, Wolverton's protest of amendments to request for quotations (RFQ) No. VA256-17-Q-1148, issued by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for landscaping services for the Gulf Coast Veterans Health Care System in Biloxi, Mississippi. We deny the request. We deny the request. View Decision Decision Matter of:  Wolverton Property Management, LLC--Reconsideration File:  B-415295.4 Date:  June  6, 2018 Benjamin U. Bowden, Esq., Vaughn & Bowden, PA, and James B. Halliday, Esq., for the protester. David W. Altieri, Esq., Department of Veterans Affairs, for the agency. Pedro E. Briones, Esq., and Peter H. Tran, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Request for reconsideration of decision dismissing a protest for failure to submit comments on the agency report is denied where the requester does not show that our prior decision contains errors of fact or law or information not previously considered. DECISION Wolverton Property Management, LLC, of Saucier, Mississippi, requests that our Office reconsider our decision dismissing, for failure to comment, Wolverton's protest of amendments to request for quotations (RFQ) No. VA256-17-Q-1148, issued by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for landscaping services for the Gulf Coast Veterans Health Care System in Biloxi, Mississippi. We deny the request. BACKGROUND Wolverton filed the protest (B-415295.3) through counsel on January 16, 2018, contending that the solicitation, as amended, was inconsistent with the corrective action proposed by the VA in response to Wolverton's earlier protest (B-415295).  As required by our Bid Protest Regulations, our Office sent written notices to the protester and the VA advising them, among other things, that the deadline for the agency report was February 15 and that the protester's comments on the agency report "must be received in our Office within 10 calendar days of your [the protester's] receipt of the report--otherwise, we will dismiss your protest."  Acknowledgement of Protest & Confirmation of Report Requirement, B-415295.3, Jan. 19, 2018, at 1 (B-415295.3 Ack. & Conf.) (emphasis in original); 4 C.F.R. § 21.3(a) (2017).[1] On February 15, the VA emailed its agency report to our Office and, at issue here, to only one of Wolverton's two attorneys.[2]  Req., Exh. A, VA Email to Parties, Agency Report, Feb. 15, 2018 (AR Email).  The VA's email reminded protester's counsel that it "has ten days from receipt of the Agency Report to submit a response."  Id. Our Office dismissed the protest on March 5, because Wolverton failed to submit comments on the agency report.[3]  Wolverton Prop. Mgmt., LLC, B-415295.3, Mar. 5, 2018 (unpublished decision).   As addressed in our decision, the filing deadlines in our regulations are prescribed under the authority of the Competition in Contracting Act of 1984; their purpose is to enable us to comply with the statute's mandate that we resolve protests expeditiously.  Id., citing 31 U.S.C. § 3554(a), Keymiaee Aero-Tech, Inc., B-274803.2, Dec. 20, 1996, 97-1 CPD ¶ 153.  We explained that to avoid delay in the resolution of protests, section 21.3(i) of our regulations provides that a protester's failure to file comments within 10 calendar days "shall" result in dismissal of the protest, except where GAO has granted an extension or has established a shorter period.  Id., citing 4 C.F.R. § 21.3(i).  We also explained that, but for this provision, a protester could idly await receipt of the report for an indefinite time, to the detriment of the protest system and our ability to resolve the protest expeditiously.  Id., citing California Envtl. Eng'g, B-274807, B-274807.2, Jan. 3, 1997, 97-1 CPD ¶ 99 at 5-6. On March 7, Wolverton filed this request for reconsideration of our decision to dismiss its protest. DISCUSSION The requester contends that our decision to dismiss the protest was "patently unfair," because Wolverton's lead counsel did not receive the agency's report (see note 2 above) and therefore it was "impossible for Wolverton to file comments in response to an Agency Report that it did not and has not received."  Req. ¶¶ 5-8, 11.  Moreover, Wolverton asserts that while only one of its attorneys received the VA's February 15 email, "no Agency Report was attached . . . only a document titled Memorandum of Law with eleven (11) Exhibits."  Id. ¶¶ 3-5.  Wolverton requests that our Office reinstate the protest, and that "Counsel for Wolverton should be provided a copy of the Agency Report and all related documents and provided an adequate opportunity to respond."  Id.