FOLLOW US

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.

Unequal Treatment Claim Rejected

Strategic Resources also argued it was judged more harshly than 360 Patriot on how each would communicate during contract performance. The GAO sided with the Army’s view that Strategic Resources proposed contacting government staff beyond the contracting officer regarding performance concerns, which conflicted with the solicitation’s stated process.

By contrast, the GAO said the record supported the Army’s conclusion that 360 Patriot’s approach did not raise the same issue, undercutting Strategic Resources’ claim that both proposals contained an “indistinguishable” feature.

Wage Compliance Allegations Dismissed

The protester also pointed to online job postings to argue that 360 Patriot might not follow required wage standards for the work. The GAO said those postings did not amount to reliable evidence that the awardee would disregard service contract labor rules, and therefore did not obligate the Army to revisit pricing or reject the proposal.

The GAO characterized the claim as speculative and said the Army could reasonably rely on the awardee’s proposed rates rather than assumptions about future conduct.

Contract Background

According to the decision, the Army issued the solicitation in January 2025 to firms under an indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity vehicle focused on human resources services. The requirement covered funeral honor support and survivor outreach for the Army National Guard, structured as a 12-month base period with three 12-month option years. The procurement used a best-value approach that considered areas such as staffing, management, transition planning, and price.

The GAO also noted the Army reaffirmed the award to 360 Patriot after a corrective action process tied to an earlier protest.

Representatives for the companies and the Army did not immediately respond to comment requests, according to the report.