Harmonia Holdings Group, LLC (12639519Q0036)

B-417475.7 Jul 21, 2020 Jump To FULL REPORT VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Harmonia Holdings Group, LLC, of Blacksburg, Virginia, requests that we recommend reimbursement, in the amount of $73,554.00, for its protest costs incurred in its challenge to the issuance of a task order to AttainX, Inc., of Fairfax, Virginia, under request for quotations No. 12639519Q0036, issued by the Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, for information technology services. Following our Office's earlier decision sustaining the protest and recommending payment of the costs of filing and pursuing the protest, Harmonia submitted a certified claim for such costs to the agency. We deny the request. View Decision DOCUMENT FOR PUBLIC RELEASE The decision issued on the date below was subject to a GAO Protective Order. The entire decision has been approved for public release. Decision Matter of:  Harmonia Holdings Group, LLC--Costs File:  B-417475.7 Date:  July 21, 2020 W. Brad English, Esq., Emily J. Chancey, Esq., and Michael W. Rich, Esq., Maynard Cooper & Gale, PC, for the protester. Caleb A. Pearson, Esq., Department of Agriculture, for the agency. April Y. Shields, Esq., and Christina Sklarew, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST 1.  Request for recommendation that agency reimburse a greater portion of protester’s costs for attorneys’ fees than the agency has agreed to pay (i.e., that the agency reimburse the costs without application of the statutory cap at 31 U.S.C. § 3554(c)(2)) is denied where, although the protester was small at the time it received its Federal Supply Schedule contract, the record shows that prior to the time the protester submitted its quotation for this task order, and prior to the time it filed its protest, the protester certified in the System for Award Management that it was no longer a small business under the size standard for the protested procurement; therefore, for purposes of this review, we do not view the protester as a small business, and its costs are subject to the statutory cap on hourly rates for attorneys’ fees that can be reimbursed for successful large business protesters. 2.  Request for recommendation that agency reimburse a greater portion of protester’s costs for consultant fees than the agency has agreed to pay is denied where the record shows that the consultant advised only on issues that were dismissed for failure to state a valid basis; therefore, there is no basis for our Office to recommend the reimbursement of any of the consultant fees. DECISION   Harmonia Holdings Group, LLC, of Blacksburg, Virginia, requests that we recommend reimbursement, in the amount of $73,554.00, for its protest costs incurred in its challenge to the issuance of a task order to AttainX, Inc., of Fairfax, Virginia, under request for quotations No. 12639519Q0036, issued by the Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, for information technology services.  Following our Office’s earlier decision sustaining the protest and recommending payment of the costs of filing and pursuing the protest, Harmonia submitted a certified claim for such costs to the agency. We deny the request. BACKGROUND Of relevance here, the agency issued the subject solicitation on November 19, 2018, as a total small business set-aside pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) subpart 8.4 to vendors holding contracts under General Services Administration, Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) No.