Assessment and Training Solutions Consulting Corporation (Unknown)

B-423398 Jun 27, 2025 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Assessment and Training Solutions Consulting Corporation (ATSCC), a service-disabled veteran-owned small business located in Virginia Beach, Virginia, protests the issuance of a sole-source fixed-price purchase order to Tactical Electronics and Military Supply, LLC (Tactical Electronics), of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, by the Department of the Navy to provide tactical first responder medical training prior to military troop deployment. ATSCC argues that the agency's sole-source award is unreasonable and contrary to applicable procurement law and regulation. We deny the protest. View Decision Decision Matter of: Assessment and Training Solutions Consulting Corporation File: B-423398 Date: June 27, 2025 Dennis Kelly for the protester. Toya H. Davis, Esq., Department of the Navy, for the agency. Paula A. Williams, Esq., and Evan D. Wesser, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Protest challenging agency’s issuance of a sole-source purchase order using simplified acquisition procedures is denied where the record shows that the agency reasonably determined that there was only one source available to meet the agency’s urgent requirements for first responder medical training prior to military troop deployment. DECISION Assessment and Training Solutions Consulting Corporation (ATSCC), a service-disabled veteran-owned small business located in Virginia Beach, Virginia, protests the issuance of a sole-source fixed-price purchase order to Tactical Electronics and Military Supply, LLC (Tactical Electronics), of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, by the Department of the Navy to provide tactical first responder medical training prior to military troop deployment. ATSCC argues that the agency’s sole-source award is unreasonable and contrary to applicable procurement law and regulation. We deny the protest. BACKGROUND The Navy’s Expeditionary Exploitation Unit-1 (EXU-1) has a requirement to provide tactical first responder medical training (hereinafter, medical training) to military personnel operating in various scenarios to include battlefield, remote care, prolonged transport, or unique rescue conditions. The medical training encompasses the treatment of the trauma/casualty patient with particular emphasis on penetrating, blunt, and blast trauma in conjunction with environmental and situational concerns. Contracting Officer’s Statement (COS) at 1; Agency Report (AR), Exh. 3, Statement of Work (SOW) at 1.[1] The medical training simulates a hostile environment where students must perform frontline first aid procedures of medical care, the different phases of medical care, and triage as they relate to medical care on the battlefield after neutralizing the enemy threat. Among other things, the successful contractor will be required to equip, train, and certify explosive ordinance disposal (EOD) platoons in advance lifesaving skills and techniques used in remote hostile environments without immediate evacuation support. SOW at 1. To procure these services, the agency originally anticipated issuing a solicitation under Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) subpart 13.5, simplified acquisition procedures, under which the agency would issue a firm-fixed-price purchase order. COS at 1. The SOW accompanying the agency’s December 2024 request for market research information anticipated a base performance period of March 24-26, 2025, with three option periods. SOW at 4. As is relevant, the agency represents that during the first quarter of the current fiscal year a solicitation could not be issued because current year appropriated funding was not available. The agency explains that it was operating under continuing resolution authority (CRA) that would not be lifted until March 14, 2025, which would delay execution of a purchase order for the medical training scheduled to begin on March 24. COS at 1-2. Given the importance of this training for military personnel with impending deployments, the agency identified strategies to address the situation, including utilizing existing Defense Logistics Agency contracts or the purchase card payment method,[2] concluding that neither option was appropriate given the terms and conditions of the required training. Id. at 2. While waiting on the availability of funds either through a new CRA or congressional appropriation, the contracting officer decided to initiate market research and complete all preliminary procurement actions to ensure readiness once funding was appropriated. Id. In conducting its market research, an agency representative engaged in an email exchange with three vendors, including the protester and the awardee, that was labeled as a “request for market research quote.” AR, Exh. 2, Req. for Market Research Quote for EOD First Responder Medical Suite Training 20241210 (Dec.