GAI argued that the solicitation was also “latently ambiguous” and self-contradictory. It said that while the solicitation stated that the government would not assume a blank cell to represent a zero, the Army mandated the use of a price model spreadsheet that nevertheless made that assumption.
“At a minimum, this discrepancy is ambiguous, but moreover, it is flatly contradictory,” GAI said. “And the effect of the contradiction is not insignificant.”
GAI is one of several consolidated plaintiffs in a lawsuit another bidder, Govwave LLC, initiated in February, accusing the Army of wrongfully eliminating it from the Information Technology Enterprise Solutions 4 Hardware, or ITES-4H, procurement based on the agency being unsure of whether the company had any adverse past performance.
The solicitation, according to a redacted version of Govwave’s complaint filed in late February, contemplates the award of at least 17 indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contracts to eligible contractors, including small businesses.
