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GAO-25-900611 Nov 14, 2024 1 (2024-11-14)

handle is hein.gao/gaorbu0001 and id is 1 raw text is: G- AOU.S. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE 441 G St. N.W. Comptroller General Washington, DC 20548 of the United States B-158766 November 14, 2024 Re: GAO Bid Protest Annual Report to Congress for Fiscal Year 2024 Congressional Committees: This letter responds to the requirements of the Competition in Contracting Act of 1984, 31 U.S.C. § 3554(e)(2) (CICA), that the Comptroller General report to Congress each instance in which (1) a federal agency did not fully implement a recommendation made by our Office in connection with a bid protest during the prior year, and (2) each instance in which a final decision in a protest was not rendered within 100 days after the date the protest is submitted to the Comptroller General. During fiscal year 2024, we issued final decisions within 100 days for all protests filed with GAO. In this letter we also provide data concerning our overall protest filings for the fiscal year. Finally, this letter also addresses the requirement under CICA that our report include a summary of the most prevalent grounds for sustaining protests during the preceding year. 31 U.S.C. § 3554(e)(2). Agency Failure to Fully Implement Recommendations For fiscal year 2024, one federal agency declined to implement the recommendations made by our Office in connection with a bid protest. By letter dated September 30, 2024, we reported an occurrence involving the Department of State: Pernix Fed., LLC, B-422122.2, Mar. 22, 2024, 2024 CPD T 73. As explained in our September 30 letter, the protest concerned the relationship between the requirements to qualify as a U.S. person under the Omnibus Diplomatic Security and Antiterrorism Act of 1986, as amended (Security Act), regulations promulgated by the Department of State implementing the Security Act, as well as Federal Acquisition Regulation requirements related to registration in the System for Award Management (SAM). The protest revealed a conflict created by the Department of State's Security Act regulations and the agency's interpretation of the SAM registration requirements. In sum, the requirement that a de facto joint venture register in SAM (which is not possible due to the joint venture not possessing a formal legal structure) could not be harmonized with the Department of State's current regulations that permit a de facto joint venture to qualify as a U.S. person under the Security Act. In sustaining the protest, we found that the Department of State's determination of the protester's ineligibility for award under both the Security Act and SAM registration requirements was unreasonable. As explained in our September 30 letter, we recommended that the agency reinstate Pernix Federal in the competition, amend the solicitation to clarify SAM registration requirements with respect to de facto joint venture members, and thereafter GAO-25-900611

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