Elizabeth N. Jochum and David L. Bodner ●
Protest of: Effective Communication Strategies, LLC
Government Accountability Office (“GAO”)
B-423993; B-423993.2
- The challenged procurement was a commercial item, simplified acquisition for microwaves and dehumidfiers.
- The Army Corps of Engineers issued numerous solicitation amendments, including several issued after initial proposals were submitted, requiring offerors to revise and resubmit their proposals.
- Effective Communication Strategies (“ECS”) challenged one of these amendments, which added a requirement for a refrigerator that met outlined technical specifications and complied with the Trade Agreements Act.
- The relevant amendment was issued in the morning, with revised quotations due the same day at 5:00 p.m.
- The Agency and ECS then engaged in several rounds of communications and further solicitation amendments regarding the refrigerator requirements, with the Agency imposing extremely short response deadlines—always less than a day and sometimes less than an hour.
- GAO found that the Agency had failed to afford offerors a reasonable opportunity to respond to the Agency’s evolving requirements, both in response to the amendment and during communications.
- GAO recommended the Agency amend the solicitation and allow for a reasonable response time.