Mission Analytics, LLC (SPE7M5-24-T-862W)

B-423592 Sep 09, 2025 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Mission Analytics, LLC, a service-disabled veteran-owned small business (SDVOSB) of Falls Church, Virginia, protests the Defense Logistic Agency's (DLA) decision to cancel request for quotations (RFQ) No. SPE7M5-24-T-862W (862W) for 13 antennas identified by national stock number 5985-01-649-0339, which was set aside for SDVOSBs, and then resolicit the requirement under RFQ No. SPE7M1-25-Q-0824 (0824), as a small business set-aside. The protester contends that the cancellation and set-aside were unreasonable. We dismiss the protest. View Decision Decision Matter of: Mission Analytics, LLC File: B-423592 Date: September 9, 2025 Michael Winters for the protester. Hadiya Abdullahi, Esq., Defense Logistics Agency, for the agency. Kasia Dourney, Esq., and Alexander O. Levine, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Protest challenging agency's cancellation of a solicitation and terms of a subsequent solicitation is dismissed where protest was filed more than 10 days after the closing date for receipt of quotations, which constituted initial adverse agency action on the protester's pending agency-level protest raising the same issues. DECISION Mission Analytics, LLC, a service‑disabled veteran‑owned small business (SDVOSB) of Falls Church, Virginia, protests the Defense Logistic Agency's (DLA) decision to cancel request for quotations (RFQ) No. SPE7M5-24-T-862W (862W) for 13 antennas identified by national stock number 5985-01-649-0339, which was set aside for SDVOSBs, and then resolicit the requirement under RFQ No. SPE7M1-25-Q-0824 (0824), as a small business set-aside. The protester contends that the cancellation and set-aside were unreasonable. We dismiss the protest. BACKGROUND The agency issued the initial RFQ on September 12, 2024, pursuant to the simplified acquisition procedures of Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) part 13. Agency Report (AR), Tab 1, RFQ 862W at 1, 30. The solicitation provided for a total set-aside award based on a tiered evaluation method, limited to SDVOSBs and small business concerns, in accordance with Defense Logistics Acquisition Directive (DLAD) procurement note L17.[1] Id. at 2. Based on the tiered evaluation method, the agency was first to make an award to an eligible SDVOSB concern, and, in the event no eligible quotation at a fair market price from an SDVOSB was received, award the contract to a small business concern. See DLAD Procurement Notes Effective Sept. 6, 2024 at 51. As relevant to this protest, the agency estimated the value of the requirement as $125,161.14. AR, Tab 2, Price Estimate at 1. After evaluating quotations, the agency found that all of the technically acceptable quotations, including Mission's, quoted prices above the simplified acquisition threshold of $250,000, which prevented DLA from making award using FAR part 13 simplified acquisition procedures. Contracting Officer's Statement and Memorandum of Law (COS/MOL) at 3; see also FAR 2.101. As a result, on April 11, 2025, the contracting officer decided to cancel RFQ 862W and resolicit the requirement under RFQ 0824 pursuant to the special emergency procurement authority (SEPA) of 41 U.S.C. § 1903, which authorizes agencies to raise the simplified acquisition threshold above the current levels for certain acquisitions.[2] AR, Tab 5, SEPA Justification Memorandum; AR, Tab 6, RFQ 0824. The new solicitation was set aside for small business concerns and established an April 25 deadline for the receipt of quotations. COS/MOL at 3; AR, Tab 6, RFQ 0824 at 5. On April 21, Mission filed an agency-level protest, challenging both the cancellation of the initial RFQ 862W and the set-aside provision of RFQ 0824. AR, Tab 7, Agency-Level Protest. Mission alleged that the agency improperly cancelled the solicitation and that RFQ 0824 should have been set aside for SDVOSBs, as the “invocation of SEPA does not appear to be a[] clear basis for cancellation of the SDVOSB RFQ.” Id. at 1. The agency did not suspend or otherwise modify the April 25 deadline for the receipt of quotations under RFQ 0824. COS/MOL at 4. On May 21, the agency denied Mission's protest. AR, Tab 8, Agency-Level Protest Decision at 1. In support of its denial, DLA explained that a “contracting agency need only establish a reasonable basis to support a decision to cancel an RFQ.” Id. at 1. The agency further stated that as long as the solicitation is “[b]elow the [simplified acquisition threshold],” as RFQ 0824 is here, “the contracting officer has the discretion to proceed under a total small business set-aside without first considering a socioeconomic set-aside” contracting program, “such as the SDVOSB Program.” Id.