CWIS, LLC

B-416544 Jul 12, 2018 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights CWIS, LLC, of Colorado Springs, Colorado, protests sole-source justification No. JOFOC1817, issued by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), to enter into a 12-month contract with P.K. Management Group, Inc. (PKMG), of Doral, Florida, for field service management (FSM) services at HUD-managed properties in Nevada, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and Alaska (known as areas 4S and 6S). CWIS argues that HUD lacked a valid legal and factual basis to award a contract to PKMG on a sole-source basis due to unusual and compelling urgency, rather than holding at least a limited competition; that even if there were a valid basis, the 12 month term exceeds the time necessary to conduct a competition for the requirement; and that the unusual and compelling urgency cited by HUD is negated by a lack of reasonable planning. We dismiss the protest as untimely. We dismiss the protest as untimely. View Decision Decision Matter of:  CWIS, LLC File:  B-416544 Date:  July 12, 2018 Rene Ugarte, Esq., Whitcomb, Selinsky, McAuliffe PC, for the protester. Julie Cannatti, Esq., and Audrey Roh, Esq., Department of Housing and Urban Development, for the agency. Paul N. Wengert, Esq., and Tania Calhoun, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Protest that agency lacked a valid basis for sole-source contract award is dismissed as untimely where protest was submitted to GAO after closing time on Friday, and thus was not filed until Monday morning when GAO reopened for filings, which was more than 10 days after protester knew or should have known its basis of protest, notwithstanding counsel's apparent unsuccessful attempt to file protest 1 minute before closing time on Friday.  DECISION CWIS, LLC, of Colorado Springs, Colorado, protests sole-source justification No. JOFOC1817, issued by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), to enter into a 12-month contract with P.K. Management Group, Inc. (PKMG), of Doral, Florida, for field service management (FSM) services at HUD-managed properties in Nevada, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and Alaska (known as areas 4S and 6S).  CWIS argues that HUD lacked a valid legal and factual basis to award a contract to PKMG on a sole-source basis due to unusual and compelling urgency, rather than holding at least a limited competition; that even if there were a valid basis, the 12 month term exceeds the time necessary to conduct a competition for the requirement; and that the unusual and compelling urgency cited by HUD is negated by a lack of reasonable planning.  We dismiss the protest as untimely.  As background, starting on May 1, 2018, GAO fully implemented the electronic protest docketing system (EPDS).  Under regulations effective that day, all new protests were required to be filed using the EPDS system (at https://epds.gao.gov/login), which requires payment of a filing fee, as provided in authorizing legislation.  See generally 83 Fed. Reg. 13817 (Apr. 2, 2018).  The regulations implementing EPDS provide that "[p]rotests must be filed through the EPDS."  Id. at 13823 (amending 4 C.F.R. § 21.1(b)).  The regulations also specify that "[a] document is filed on a particular day when it is received in EPDS by 5:30 p.m., Eastern Time."  Id. (amending 4 C.F.R. §§ 21.0(f) and (g)).  With respect to alleged errors in the solicitation process where there was no due date for submission of responses to a solicitation, the regulations specify as follows: If no closing time has been established, or if no further submissions are anticipated, any alleged solicitation improprieties must be protested within 10 days of when the alleged impropriety was known or should have been known.  Id. (amending 4 C.F.R. § 21.2(a)(1)).  The EPDS website provides instructions regarding the steps necessary to file a protest.  Those instructions include the following guidance:   (a) . . . In the event that a Filer is unable to file a document in EPDS due to a technical failure of EPDS during normal system operating hours, the following procedures in paragraph (b) shall apply. . . . (b) . . . If EPDS is unavailable during normal system operating hours, a Filer should: i. Contact GAO to ascertain EPDS's operating status. ii.