File Not Found

B-424287,B-424287.2 Jun 01, 2026 Jump To FULL REPORT VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights TechGlobal, Inc, a women-owned small business of Reston, Virginia, protests the issuance of a task order to Reston Consulting Group, Inc. (RCG), a women-owned small business of Herndon, Virginia, under request for quotations (RFQ) No. 1305M226Q0013, issued by the Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for information technology (IT) support services. The protester challenges the agency's evaluation of vendors' quotations under the solicitation's technical approach factor, as well as the agency's source selection decision. We deny the protest. View Decision DOCUMENT FOR PUBLIC RELEASE The decision issued on the date below was subject to a GAO Protective Order. The entire decision has been approved for public release. Decision Matter of: TechGlobal, Inc. File: B-424287; B-424287.2 Date: June 1, 2026 Heather B. Mims, Esq., and David R. Warner, Esq., Warner PLLC, for the protester. Jonathan D. Shaffer, Esq., Zachary D. Prince, Esq., and John M. Tanner, Esq., Haynes and Boone LLP, for Reston Consulting Group, Inc., the intervenor. Andrew Parker Frank, Esq., Department of Commerce, for the agency. Thomas J. Warren, Esq., and Alexander O. Levine, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Protest that agency misevaluated quotations and made an unreasonable source selection decision is denied where the evaluation was reasonable and the selection of the successful vendor's higher-rated and higher-priced quotation was consistent with the solicitation's selection criteria. DECISION TechGlobal, Inc, a women-owned small business of Reston, Virginia, protests the issuance of a task order to Reston Consulting Group, Inc. (RCG), a women-owned small business of Herndon, Virginia, under request for quotations (RFQ) No. 1305M226Q0013, issued by the Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for information technology (IT) support services. The protester challenges the agency's evaluation of vendors' quotations under the solicitation's technical approach factor, as well as the agency's source selection decision. We deny the protest. BACKGROUND The instant RFQ sought a contractor to provide NOAA's National Ocean Service, Office of Coast Survey (OCS) with comprehensive IT support services, including IT administration and help desk support, IT security support, system and database administration, and cloud service integration and maintenance. Agency Report (AR), Tab 1a, Performance Work Statement (PWS) at 5.[1] OCS is the nation's nautical chart maker, promoting safe navigation by collecting, managing, and compiling data and information necessary to maintain the national suite of electronic navigational charts. Id. at 4. On January 15, 2026, NOAA issued the RFQ as a set aside for women-owned small businesses under the General Services Administration's (GSA) multiple award schedule special item number 54151S, IT professional services, using Revolutionary Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Overhaul subpart 8.4[2] and GSA Acquisition Regulation subpart 538.71 procedures. AR, Tab 1, RFQ at 2; Contracting Officer's Statement (COS) at 2; AR, Tab 12, Business Case Memorandum at 4. The RFQ contemplated the issuance of a task order with a 1-year base period and four 1-year option periods. RFQ at 19. The RFQ specified that the agency would issue a task order to the “responsible vendor whose offer conforming to the solicitation will be most advantageous to the Government, price and other factors considered.” Id. at 13. For the evaluation, the solicitation indicated that the agency would evaluate quotations based on two factors: technical approach[3] and price, with the technical approach factor “significantly more important than price.” Id. The RFQ also stated that the agency would not select a quotation with a significantly higher price to achieve slightly superior performance capability, and price would become more important as quotations approached equality under the nonprice factors. Id. For the technical approach factor, the RFQ instructed vendors to propose a technical approach that “clearly demonstrated their understanding” of eight areas: (1) IT administration and help desk support; (2) IT security implementation; (3) system administration; (4) database administration and optimization; (5) cloud engineering and administration support; (6) IT and business services; (7) quality assurance and control measures and procedures; and (8) staffing and management plan. Id. at 11-12. The agency would then evaluate each vendor's technical approach quotation “to determine the Government's confidence of the [vendor's] technical understanding and proposed approach in response to the evaluation criteria.” Id. at 13.