We secured a contract award to our client by defeating a size protest and appeal file by a competitor.
The Department of Energy’s Office of Enterprise Assessments awarded our client a contract for technical and administrative services. The contract was set aside for small businesses with a $15 million size standard. A competitor promptly challenged the award by filing a size protest alleging that our client was affiliated with several large businesses, including the incumbent contractor, and thus not small for the procurement. Specifically, the competitor claimed that our client was affiliated based on identity of interest, common management, violation of the ostensible subcontractor rule, and the totality of the circumstances. We responded to the size protest by submitting a brief and supporting documentation to the SBA Area Office, which determined that our client was small under the applicable size standard.
The competitor then appealed the size determination to the SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals and sought to introduce new evidence. We responded to the appeal and objected to the introduction of the new evidence, arguing that the protester’s failure to submit the evidence to the Area Office was unjustifiable and that the evidence was largely irrelevant and consistent with our response to the protest. OHA agreed and affirmed the Area Office’s determination that our client was small for the procurement.
