In a victory for common sense, the GAO has held that a proposal that was in the agency’s possession before the due date was not “late,” even though the offeror emailed the proposal to the agency instead of submitting it through an online portal.
The agency’s attempt to reject the proposal was particularly egregious because the agency told the protester that the proposal could be submitted by email — then rejected the proposal when the protester did just that.
The GAO’s decision in ICI Services, Inc., B-409231.2 (Apr. 23, 2014) involved a Navy task order solicitation for engineering support services. The solicitation stated that offerors were required to submit their proposals through the Navy’s online Seaport-e portal. However, the solicitation stated that if the Seaport-e portal was inaccessible, offerors were to immediately notify the agency.
After receipt of initial proposals, the agency opened discussions and asked offerors to submit final proposal revisions. Because the Navy was having difficulty with its own Seaport-e portal, its email notice to offerors stated “[i]f you have any difficulties uploading your response in the Seaport-e portal, please email me the documentation.”
Keep reading this article at: http://smallgovcon.com/gaobidprotests/gao-emailed-proposal-in-agencys-possession-was-not-late/
