NAG Marine (B-422899)

You should not care.

Category: Late submission

Date: 12 December 2024

URL: https://www.gao.gov/products/b-422899

NAG Marine protested Navy’s rejection of its proposal under RFP no. N6449824R4016 for repair station consoles, arguing its late submission resulted from technical failures of the DOD SAFE tool used for electronic submissions. Navy rejected the proposal, determining it was received 14 minutes after the submission deadline, and GAO upheld the decision.

Navy required all proposals to be submitted via DOD SAFE by 3:00 pm on 26 August 2024. NAG Marine's attempt to submit its proposal began approximately 30 minutes before the deadline but was completed after the cutoff. GAO found no systemic failure of the DOD SAFE platform, citing evidence that the system functioned normally during the period in question. Additionally, Navy had timely received proposals from other offerors. GAO ruled the protester's late submission was its responsibility and no exceptions to FAR's late proposal rules applied.

Digest

Protest challenging agency’s decision to reject the protester’s proposal as late is denied where the proposal was not timely received by the agency in a manner consistent with the terms of the solicitation and there is no evidence of systemic failure of the web-based tool authorized for electronic submission of proposals.