Highlight Technologies, Inc.

B-423837.3 Feb 19, 2026 Jump To FULL REPORT VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Highlight Technologies, Inc. (Highlight), a small business of Fairfax, Virginia, protests the issuance of task orders to IntelliBridge, LLC, a small business of McLean, Virginia, and Steampunk, Inc., a small business, of McLean, Virginia, under request for quotations (RFQ) No. 70SBUR24Q00000105, issued by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), for development services to enhance and modernize the intake domain for the myUSCIS program. Highlight argues that the agency improperly evaluated its technical quotation under the coding challenge factor of the evaluation criteria, and therefore, the agency's best-value determination was unreasonable. We deny the protest. View Decision DOCUMENT FOR PUBLIC RELEASE The decision issued on the date below was subject to a GAO Protective Order. This redacted version has been approved for public release. Decision Matter of: Highlight Technologies, Inc. File: B-423837.3 Date: February 19, 2026 Devon E. Hewitt, Esq., and Matthew L. Nicholson, Esq., Potomac Law Group, PLLC, for the protester. David S. Black, Esq., and Gregory R. Hallmark, Esq., Holland & Knight LLP, for Steampunk, Inc.; and Aron C. Beezley, Esq., Patrick R. Quigley, Esq., and Elizabeth A. Brown, Esq., Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP, for IntelliBridge, LLC, the intervenors. Richard W. Postma, Esq., Jessica A. Easton, Esq., and Laura L. Chapman, Esq., Department of Homeland Security, for the agency. Sarah T. Zaffina, Esq., and Heather Weiner, 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 quotation under the solicitation's live demonstration coding challenge is denied where the evaluation was reasonable and consistent with the solicitation criteria. DECISION Highlight Technologies, Inc. (Highlight), a small business of Fairfax, Virginia, protests the issuance of task orders to IntelliBridge, LLC, a small business of McLean, Virginia, and Steampunk, Inc., a small business, of McLean, Virginia, under request for quotations (RFQ) No. 70SBUR24Q00000105, issued by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), for development services to enhance and modernize the intake domain for the myUSCIS program. Highlight argues that the agency improperly evaluated its technical quotation under the coding challenge factor of the evaluation criteria, and therefore, the agency's best-value determination was unreasonable. We deny the protest. BACKGROUND On September 9, 2024, pursuant to the procedures of Federal Acquisition Regulation subpart 8.4, the agency issued the RFQ to holders of the General Services Administration's federal supply schedule contracts for information technology (IT) professional services under special item number 54151S.[1] Agency Report (AR), Exh. 14, RFQ amend. 3 at 1‑2; Contracting Officer's Statement (COS) at 1. The RFQ contemplated the issuance of no more than two task orders for a 1‑year base period and four 1-year option periods, to provide support services in developing new capabilities and modernizing existing capabilities for DHS's IT systems and applications across the intake domain.[2] RFQ at 3; AR, Exh. 5, RFQ attach. 1, Performance Work Statement (PWS) at 5. The intake domain covers several related programs, including myUSCIS, concerned with form submissions, fee payments, and capturing required documents and information, such as “.pdf upload, third party software/application integration efforts, and other initiatives from both internal and external stakeholders.”[3] PWS at 5. The RFQ provided for a multi-phase procurement. In phase 1, firms were to submit written quotations containing relevant business information and a corporate experience statement. RFQ at 49-52. The agency was to evaluate the phase 1 submissions before conducting an “advisory down‑select.” Id. at 52. The RFQ stated that the advisory down-select was only a recommendation and vendors that were advised not to proceed could chose to continue to phase 2. Id. For phase 2, vendors were to participate in a coding challenge and submit a price quotation. Id. at 53-57. The coding challenge included a “take home” portion and a virtual, live demonstration. Id. at 52-53. The RFQ required each firm to create a web application solution to a problem statement and then conduct a live demonstration of the solution by deploying the code. Id. at 53‑54. During the live demonstration, the agency would also ask each firm “to implement enhancements or changes” to their solution and the firm would have three hours in which to implement and deploy the new requirements in the live demonstration. Id.