Certification question puts woman-owned business contract at risk
Gettyimages.com/ Pattanaphong Khuankaew
By
Nick Wakeman
Strategic Alliance is challenging its elimination from an award on the OASIS+ professional services vehicle, claiming an inconsistent application of certification requirements.
When is a woman-owned small business in fact not a woman-owned small business?
The answer to that question might depend on paperwork.
Strategic Alliance Inc. is challenging the General Services Administration’s decision to eliminate the company from consideration for an award in the woman-owned small business category of OASIS+, GSA's government-wide vehicle for professional services.
GSA eliminated the company because it lacked a certification as a woman-owned small business.
But Strategic Alliance is pointing to a provision in the solicitation that a pending application is acceptable, which the company claims it had. The company claims GSA inconsistently applied that provision because it gave awards to other companies that also were not certified.
Strategic Alliance is also arguing that GSA made an inaccurate assessment about the status of its application, both when it submitted its proposal and when contract awards were made.
The Government Accountability Office will decide on the protest by June 11.
What could be a slight complication is that GSA has put a pause on new OASIS+ awards for now. In September, GSA awarded places on OASIS+ to an initial cohort of woman-owned small firms as part of a rolling admissions process.
It’s unknown how long that pause will be. The agency declined to comment.