FCN Inc.--Reconsideration

B-424249.2 Jun 25, 2026 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights FCN, Inc., of Rockville, Maryland, requests reconsideration of our decision, FCN, Inc., B-424249, May 13, 2026, wherein we denied its challenge to the terms of request for quotations (RFQ) No. 2032H5-26-Q-0011, issued by the Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service (IRS), for enterprise virtualization and cloud platform services. FCN argues that our decision erroneously dismissed one of its allegations as untimely. We deny the request for reconsideration. 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: FCN Inc.--Reconsideration File: B-424249.2 Date: June 25, 2026 Paul F. Khoury, Esq., George E. Petel, Esq., W. Benjamin Phillips III, Esq., and Nicholas T. Iliff, Jr., Esq., Wiley Rein LLP, for the protester. Nickolas S. Card, Esq., Justin M. Wakefield, Esq., and Richard L. Hatfield, Esq., Department of the Treasury, for the agency. Todd C. Culliton, Esq., and Tania Calhoun, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Request for reconsideration arguing that our Office improperly dismissed allegation as untimely is denied where our review of the record shows that the protester did not raise that allegation as part of its initial protest. DECISION FCN, Inc., of Rockville, Maryland, requests reconsideration of our decision, FCN, Inc., B‑424249, May 13, 2026, wherein we denied its challenge to the terms of request for quotations (RFQ) No. 2032H5-26-Q-0011, issued by the Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service (IRS), for enterprise virtualization and cloud platform services. FCN argues that our decision erroneously dismissed one of its allegations as untimely. We deny the request for reconsideration. BACKGROUND On January 26, 2026, the IRS issued the RFQ against the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement government-wide acquisition contract, to procure a new enterprise virtualization and cloud platform service. Agency Report (AR), Tab D.1.1, RFQ at 3; AR, Tab D.1.2, RFQ, Performance Work Statement (PWS) at 1.[1] The agency seeks to transition from Broadcom/VMware to the Nutanix Cloud Platform or an equal alternative. RFQ at 3. The selected contractor will be required to migrate approximately 10,000 virtual machines from the VMware platform to the replacement platform, and then provide support to maintain the platform's hardware and software. PWS at 2. The RFQ contemplated the issuance of a fixed-price task order to be performed over a 12‑month base period and four 1-year option periods. RFQ at 3. Award would be made on a best-value tradeoff basis considering price and non-price factors. RFQ at 54. Non-price factors included: salient characteristics, technical approach, management approach, corporate experience, and past performance. Id. The non-price factors, when combined, were significantly more important than the price factor. Id. For the salient characteristics factor, the RFQ instructed vendors to provide documentation that they could provide the brand name products or equivalent alternative products identified in the hardware and software list. RFQ at 50. Amongst the products listed, some Nutanix products were identified, including a Nutanix hyperconverged infrastructure bundle (NTX-HCI-BNDL) and accompanying Nutanix nodes (NTX-8170-G9). AR, Tab D.1.4, RFQ, Hardware and Software List (BOM List and Core Description Spreadsheets). While the RFQ did not identify specific salient characteristics for the Nutanix products, the PWS included a specific section identifying the salient characteristics for categories of different products. PWS at 10-12 (Section C.6). For example, under the “Hypervisor & Virtualization Support” category, the PWS specified that the replacement platform must support all major hypervisors, including Microsoft Hyper-V, and provide a single, unified management interface capable of managing environments with multiple hypervisors. Id. at 10. Prior to the February 13, 2026, close of the solicitation period, FCN filed the underlying protest with our Office. The firm argued that the RFQ's terms were unreasonable because (1) the terms unduly restrict competition, and (2) the terms create a de facto sole source procurement. Protest at 8-11. When alleging that the terms unduly restrict competition, FCN asserted that Broadcom's VCF 9.0 virtualization platform could satisfy the agency's needs because it offered advantages over the Nutanix platform. Protest at 8. FCN also asserted that the Broadcom VCF 9.0 virtualization platform can meet the agency's minimum functional requirements. Id. at 8-9.