AttainX, Inc. (1305M2-21-Q-FKS6-0413)

B-420313 Jan 31, 2022 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights AttainX, Inc. of Herndon, Virginia, protests the issuance of a task order to Reston Consulting Group of Reston, Virginia, under request for quotations (RFQ) No. 1305M2-21-Q-FKS6-0413, issued by the Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), for information and data management services in support of the agency's Science Information Division. The protester contends that the agency failed to consider its timely submitted quotation. We deny the protest. View Decision Decision Matter of:  AttainX, Inc. File:  B-420313 Date:  January 31, 2022 Daniel J. Strouse, Esq., Cordatis LLP, for the protester. Zachary D. Prince, Esq., Aaron A. Kor, Esq., Smith Pachter McWhorter PLC, for Reston Consulting Group, the intervenor. James Rhodes, Esq., John L. Guinan Jr, Esq., Department of Commerce, for the agency. Christopher An, Esq., and Edward Goldstein, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Protest that agency acted improperly by failing to consider a quotation that was timely submitted to the agency is denied.  While the protester properly emailed the quotation to the address specified in solicitation, the email was quarantined by the agency’s email server, never received by the contracting personnel, and discovered well after the award of the contract.  Absent any evidence in the record of a systemic failure or problem, or that any other vendor’s quotation was blocked, there is no basis to conclude that the agency acted improperly. DECISION AttainX, Inc. of Herndon, Virginia, protests the issuance of a task order to Reston Consulting Group of Reston, Virginia, under request for quotations (RFQ) No. 1305M2-21-Q-FKS6-0413, issued by the Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), for information and data management services in support of the agency’s Science Information Division.  The protester contends that the agency failed to consider its timely submitted quotation. We deny the protest. BACKGROUND On May 5, 2021, NOAA issued the RFQ seeking a contractor to provide information management services with a focus on application development and data management services to support the agency’s Office of Science and Technology, Science Information Division.  Agency Report (AR), Tab 1, RFQ at 2.  The contract specialist at the time, Ms. X[1], emailed 12 companies, including the protester and awardee, inviting them to submit quotations.  AR, Tab 2, Invitation to Submit Quotation, at 1. All 12 companies were Women Owned Small Businesses with blanket purchase agreements (BPAs) under NOAA’s Mission Information Technology Services multiple award BPA program.  RFQ at 1.  In accordance with the BPA ordering guide, the agency issued the solicitation to these companies through the General Services Administration’s Federal Supply Schedule for information technology professional services, under Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) subpart 8.4.  Id. at 2; Contracting Officer’s Statement (COS) at 2. The RFQ established May 17, 2021 at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time as the due date for quotations, with all quotations to be submitted by email directly to the contract specialist.  RFQ at 24.  Subsequently, the agency amended the due date to May 27, at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time.  AR, Tab 8, RFQ amend. 2 at 1.  As relevant, the RFQ included FAR provision 52.212-1, Instruction to Offerors-Commercial items; however, the RFQ eliminated section (f) of the provision, concerning late submissions, in its entirety.[2]  RFQ at 24.  The record reflects that AttainX emailed its quotation to the address specified in the solicitation on May 27 at 12:10 p.m. and shortly thereafter received a confirmation of delivery receipt with the following message: “Delivery to these recipients or groups is complete, but no delivery notification was sent by the destination server: [XXX]- NOAA Federal ([XXX.XXX]@noaa.gov).”  AR, Tab 17, Delivery Status Email at 1.  The record also reflects that NOAA’s contract specialist received quotations at the address specified in the solicitation from eight different vendors by the closing date, to include the quotation from Reston Consulting; however, the AttainX quotation was not received at Ms. X’s email address.  AR, Tab 9, Quotation Evaluations.  While it was evaluating quotations, NOAA appointed Ms. Y as the contract specialist due to the pending departure of Ms. X from the agency.  Id. at 1.  After Ms. X left the agency, under the agency’s standard practices, Ms. X’s email account was suspended on June 22.  Office of Chief Information Officer Statement at 3. Unaware that Ms. X had left the agency, AttainX sent Ms. X a series of emails inquiring about the status of the procurement starting on August 16.  Comments, exh.