The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) has denied a request for reconsideration filed by HPC Solutions, a Colorado-based information technology company, challenging the $158 million U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) task order award. The company had failed to demonstrate grounds sufficient for the GAO to reconsider its previous decision, issued in December, which rejected HPC Solutions’ protest.
HPC Solutions submitted several assertions in its bid for reconsideration, including allegations of threats from the VA and unauthorized release of protest correspondence to a third party. However, the GAO found that none of these claims established the factual or legal errors necessary for reconsideration.
“The requester either raises allegations that are not for review by our office, fails to state a valid basis for reconsideration, or reiterates arguments raised and rejected during the underlying protest,” stated the GAO in its decision.
The original protest was filed in opposition to the VA’s award to San Diego-based Veterans EZ Info Inc., whose proposal, valued at nearly $300 million less than HPC Solutions’ own proposal, was selected for providing IT support services.
The GAO’s review of the reconsideration request concluded that the protest denial should not be reconsidered, addressing several arguments raised by HPC Solutions. These included claims that the VA’s alleged use of “not standard verbiage” during the evaluation was improper and that the GAO had incorrectly dismissed certain technical proposal evaluations as untimely. The GAO reaffirmed that it had already considered these issues and rejected the notion of a price realism evaluation in the absence of a solicitation provision requiring such an evaluation.
Additionally, the GAO clarified that its decisions do not necessarily address every issue raised by the protester, as the agency’s statutory mandate aims to provide an efficient forum for resolving bid protests without exhaustive deliberations on every detail.
In response to the GAO’s ruling, Rodger Cree, CEO of HPC Solutions, expressed his dissatisfaction with the outcome. He indicated that the company intends to pursue its challenge further, taking the matter to the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.
HPC Solutions remains committed to contesting the award, believing that the VA and GAO have not given adequate scrutiny to the protest or reconsideration motion.
