GAO starts to move on OASIS+ protest rulings with 2 denials

The Government Accountability Office has started to resolve outstanding protests involving the OASIS+ contract vehicle's small business portion with denials of two challenges.

The Mission Solaiya joint venture and Q2 Impact failed to convince GAO that they deserved at least a re-evaluation of their proposals. contract.

Four other protests are still pending at GAO and decisions on those are scheduled for the next two weeks.

GAO bundles protests over the same contract into a single decision if similar arguments are raised. But for OASIS+, the grounds raised by these companies are different enough to warrant individual rulings.

Only Mission Solaiya’s protest decision has been publicly released. GSA eliminated the JV because its proposal did not follow the criteria in the solicitation.

The solicitation for OASIS+ required that joint ventures submit at least one qualifying project from the protégé or from the joint venture. Mission Solaiya is comprised of a mentor, Mission 1st Group, and a protégé Solaiya LLP.

Mission Solaiya did neither in its proposal for OASIS+. The JV instead submitted a project performed by an affiliate of Solaiya’s as well as a “meaningful relationship commitment letter.”

GSA allowed that approach for some parts of the solicitation, but did not allow it in the section asking for qualifying projects. GSA rejected Mission Solaiya’s proposal and eliminated the JV from the competition, a move GAO agreed with.

“Because [Mission Solaiya’s] proposals did not satisfy the qualifying project requirement, it was reasonable for GSA to deem [the] proposals ineligible for award,” GAO wrote.

That might sound like a bit of a technicality,. But when it comes to these large vehicles that often collect hundreds of proposals, the government is looking for reasons to disqualify your proposal.

As cliched as it sounds, watch your P’s and Q’s. Make sure your proposal tracks with the solicitation.