The U.S. Government Accountability Office has rejected a bid protest filed by Strategic Resources Inc. after the company failed to persuade watchdog officials that the U.S. Army mishandled a major contract award for military funeral honors and survivor outreach work.
In a decision dated Jan. 14 and released Friday, the GAO said the Army acted reasonably when it selected 360 Patriot Enterprises LLC for a deal valued at about $64 million. Strategic Resources, which submitted a higher-priced proposal, argued the Army did not properly recognize benefits in its plan and did not adequately weigh risks in the awardee’s submission.
Staffing Strengths Dispute
Strategic Resources contended the Army should have credited numerous strengths tied to its staffing and management structure, including the experience of its proposed leadership. The GAO said the Army was not required to assign repeated strengths for similar features and reasonably treated the staffing plan as a single notable advantage rather than dozens of separate evaluation points.
The watchdog emphasized that a contractor must show how a proposal feature goes beyond requirements in a way that creates clear value for the government. The GAO added that disagreement with an evaluator’s judgment, by itself, does not establish that an assessment was improper.
