Mission Analytics, LLC (B-422841.3)

You should not care.

Category: Procedural errors

Date: 11 December 2024

URL: https://www.gao.gov/products/b-422841.3

Mission Analytics, LLC protested the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST’s) awarding a purchase order to Visbox, Inc. The protest claimed that NIST violated FAR 33.103(f) by awarding the order while an agency-level protest was pending. Mission Analytics also disputed the inclusion of a nonmanufacturer rule class waiver in the RFQ.

GAO dismissed the protest as legally insufficient. First, it determined no agency-level protest was pending at the time of the award because the contracting officer had rejected the protester’s claims and proceeded with the solicitation. Second, even if a violation of FAR 33.103(f) had occurred, GAO found it constituted a procedural defect without competitive prejudice.

GAO reiterated that procedural errors, like failing to delay an award during an agency-level protest, do not invalidate awards unless they result in competitive harm. Here, Mission Analytics failed to show how it was prejudiced by NIST’s actions, particularly since the protester did not submit a bid by the solicitation deadline.

Digest

Protest alleging the agency issued a purchase order while an agency-level protest was pending is dismissed as legally insufficient where there was no agency-level protest pending at the time of award, and because failing to stay award is a procedural defect that does not result in competitive prejudice.