Inc., a Small Business, Protested a Decision

¶ … Inc., a small business, protested a decision by the Department of the Interior, Minerals Management Service (MMS), regarding issues requests for proposals (Gamboa, 2004). On the 24th of May, 2004, MMS published a notice on the website that provides federal business opportunities (Gamboa, 2004). This was a presolicitation, and an announcement of its intent to procure a report drawing national attention to health education methods deemed innovative (Gamboa, 2004). According to that notice, there was a process (consisting of two steps) that had to be undertaken by interested parties (Gamboa, 2004). Qualifications would have to be shown and then some companies would be selected from those that were qualified (Gamboa, 2004). At that point in time, proposals would be asked for by MMS from the qualified companies. The deadline for requesting a copy of the solicitation was June 4th, and the deadline for statements of capabilities (qualifications) was June 17th (Gamboa, 2004). Twenty requests for a copy of the notice were made by the deadline. Nothing was set aside for small business concerns, prompting Information Ventures, Inc. To file a protest (Gamboa, 2004).

The issue here is that there should have been an RFP set aside when it comes to small businesses. Instead, it was completely unrestricted. Several small businesses submitted their qualifications statements with their request for a copy of the solicitation. One was asked to submit a proposal, as were other businesses. Information Ventures, Inc. is arguing that provisions were not correctly set for small businesses, and that the agency did not conduct adequate research into the market before it determined that the procurement would not be set aside (Gamboa, 2004). According to a contractor at MMS, market research had shown there was no reasonable expectation that two or more small businesses would be able to meet the requirements, but Information Ventures, Inc. is protesting the adequacy of that research (Gamboa, 2004).

The protest by Information Ventures, Inc. was sustained, because contracting officers must set aside all procurements that exceed $100,000 for small businesses if there is any reasonable expectation of receiving fair offers from at least two small businesses that are qualified. In this case, the ruling was that the protest was valid because there was no reasonable effort made by the contracting officer to ensure small businesses would not be able to provide acceptable offers (Gamboa, 2004). I support this decision, because a careful reading of the case does seem to indicate that the contracting officer failed in due diligence when it came to determining if small businesses could, in fact, qualify for the work that was being offered. No prior research or prior statistics were taken into account, and the contracting officer simply did not bother to do enough work before just making an assumption and moving on. This harmed Information Ventures, Inc., and potentially harmed other small businesses also located in the area who would have bid on the work.