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B-423810,B-423810.2 Nov 24, 2025 Jump To FULL REPORT VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Supplying Demand, LLC, a service-disabled veteran-owned small business of Derry, New Hampshire, protests the elimination of its proposal from the competition under request for proposals (RFP) No. SHOP-PR-001071, issued by the Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for the award of multiple indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contracts to provide various types of tactical equipment and related incidental services. The protester contends that the FBI unreasonably rejected its price proposal as noncompliant. We deny the protest. View Decision Decision Matter of: Supplying Demand, LLC File: B-423810; B-423810.2 Date: November 24, 2025 Juan M. Martinez for the protester. Carlos S. Pedraza, Esq., Department of Justice, for the agency. Michelle Litteken, Esq., and April Y. Shields, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Protest challenging the agency's evaluation of the protester's proposal as ineligible for award is denied where the evaluation was reasonable and consistent with the solicitation. DECISION Supplying Demand, LLC, a service-disabled veteran-owned small business of Derry, New Hampshire, protests the elimination of its proposal from the competition under request for proposals (RFP) No. SHOP-PR-001071, issued by the Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for the award of multiple indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contracts to provide various types of tactical equipment and related incidental services. The protester contends that the FBI unreasonably rejected its price proposal as noncompliant. We deny the protest.[1] BACKGROUND The FBI issued the RFP on May 8, 2025, as a small business set-aside, pursuant to the procedures of Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) parts 12 and 15. Contracting Officer's Statement (COS) at 1; Agency Report (AR), Tab 3-1, RFP at 6.[2] The RFP contemplated the award of multiple indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contracts, referred to as the agency's strategic tactical equipment acquisition and logistics (STEAL) contract. COS at 1. The STEAL contract will be used to provide FBI field offices and headquarters units with equipment, including survival gear, tactical equipment, protective eyewear, vision enhancing equipment, scuba gear, escalation of force equipment, and air purification devices. Id. The RFP provided that the STEAL contract would have a base ordering period of 1 year and four 1-year option periods. RFP at 6. The RFP provided that award would be made on the basis of a best-value tradeoff, using the following factors, listed in descending order of importance: technical, past performance, and price. RFP at 69. The RFP stated that when combined, the technical and past performance factors were significantly more important than price. The RFP also stated that the agency anticipated making award without discussions. Id. The price factor is relevant here, and for that factor, the solicitation instructed offerors to use attachment 1, the price proposal Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, to prepare their proposals.[3] AR, Tab 3‑2, RFP attach. 1, Price Proposal Spreadsheet; RFP at 65. Pricing was to include all applicable costs, including preservation and packaging.[4] RFP at 65. The RFP stated: “The pre-formatted spreadsheet(s) is the ONLY acceptable method of returning the Price Proposal(s).” Id. at 67. The solicitation continued: “Vendors should not change the format in the spreadsheet(s), as any vendor changes to the spreadsheet format may adversely impact the evaluation of their price proposals.” Id. Additionally, the solicitation's instructions stated: “Proposals that do not provide the required information in the prescribed format as outlined in this [RFP] could be considered non-compliant and ineligible for award.” Id. at 61. The deadline for proposal submission was June 13, and Supplying Demand submitted a timely proposal. AR, Tab 4-1, Submission Email. On August 4, after the FBI posted a notice of award on SAM.gov, Supplying Demand emailed the FBI and asked whether its proposal was being considered for award. AR, Tab 5, Agency-Protester Emails at 7-8; COS at 3. The contracting officer located Supplying Demand's proposal (which had been misdirected to the agency's SPAM folder), reviewed the proposal, and found that the protester did not use the price proposal spreadsheet to prepare the proposal. COS at 4. Instead, Supplying Demand submitted a single spreadsheet that consisted of one tab from attachment 1, the price proposal spreadsheet, and two tabs from a different spreadsheet--attachment 3, STEAL RFQ.[5] Id. The proposal submission did not include the price evaluation list from attachment 1, price proposal spreadsheet.