GAO upholds protest against GSA eGov Travel solicitation

The Government Accountability Office has upheld a protest against the General Services Administration’s “E-Gov Travel” electronic travel management solicitation because of uncertainty about whether certain objectives were optional or required, the congressional watchdog agency announced.

CWTSatoTravel, also known as CW Government Travel Inc., filed the protest in November 2010 with regard to the GSA’s solicitation for the anticipated E-Gov Travel Service 2.0 contract for end-to-end federal travel management services in a secure, Web-based environment. The contract was to be a continuation of services based on a consolidation of three E-Gov Travel contract awards made in November 2003, including one to CWT.

CWT’s protest challenged several terms of the solicitation, including alleging that the language was vague or ambiguous. GAO sustained that finding and recommended that the solicitation be rewritten and reissued.

“We sustain the protest on the ground that the solicitation is ambiguous about whether the stated objectives are optional or may be requirements for award,” the GAO General Counsel Lynn Gibson wrote in theApril 22 GAO decision.

“We recommend that the agency revise the solicitation to clearly communicate whether the Statement of Work objectives are optional. For example, if the agency intends objectives to be optional, then the solicitation should be amended to eliminate the suggestion that the agency may unilaterally reject an exception taken to an objective,” the decision states.

“On the other hand, if the agency wishes to retain the flexibility of determining, after the receipt of proposals, that an objective will be mandatory rather than optional, then the solicitation should be amended to notify offerors that notwithstanding an exception taken to an objective, an offeror, pursuant to discussions, may be required to offer a technical solution and pricing for one or more of the objectives,” Gibson wrote.

The GAO also stated that CWT’s legal expenses should be reimbursed for the costs covering that portion of its protest. The GAO rejected other aspects of CWT’s protest.

GSA officials were not immediately available to comment.