B-296716, Quality Support, Inc., September 13, 2005
Decision
Matter of: Quality Support, Inc.
Joseph
G. Billings, Esq., for the protester.
Phillipa
L. Anderson, Esq., Dennis Foley, Esq., and Philip Kauffman, Esq., Department of
Veterans Affairs, for the agency.
Linda C. Glass, Esq., and Michael R. Golden, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision.
DIGEST
Protest of agency’s cancellation of solicitation after receipt and evaluation of quotations is denied where record supports reasonableness of cancellation due to lack of available funding.
DECISION
Quality Support, Inc. protests the decision of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to cancel a request for quotations (RFQ) for conference planning and support services for the Center for Quality Management, a field office of the VA Public Health Strategic Health Care Group. The protester contends that the cancellation lacks a reasonable basis and is only a pretext by the agency to avoid issuance of a purchase order to the protester.
On
The agency received two quotations, from the protester and
Courtesy, in response to the RFQ. The
evaluators rated Courtesy’s quotation higher technically because Courtesy demonstrated
a better understanding of, and greater experience with, the technical elements
of the requirement. The evaluators
expressed some reservation about selecting Quality because Quality had “only 15
years of experience,” no prior working history with the VA, and no smoking or
hepatitis C conference background. AR,
Tab 6, BPA Scoring. The contracting
officer nevertheless made a preliminary decision to award to Quality based on
its lower price. However, subsequently,
the program office informed the contracting officer of the office’s intent to
“pull the funding document back that they had provided in support of this
action.” Contracting Officer’s Statement
at 1. The program office further advised
the contracting officer that the office had “made a mistake in sending me the
funding document . . . in the first place.”
Quality protests the cancellation of the RFQ and maintains
that the agency’s decision to cancel was unreasonable. A contracting agency need only establish a
reasonable basis to support a decision to cancel an RFQ; in this regard, so
long as there is a reasonable basis for doing so, an agency may cancel an RFQ
no matter when the information precipitating the cancellation first arises,
even if it is not until quotations have been submitted and evaluated. Quality Tech., Inc., B-292883.2,
While the agency has asserted several reasons for
canceling the RFQ, it is well established that an agency’s lack of funding for
a procurement provides a reasonable basis for cancellation, as agencies cannot
award contracts which exceed available funds.
First Enter., B-221502.3,
In addition, while the protester argues that the cancellation
is a subterfuge to avoid awarding it a contract, there is no evidence in the
record to support this allegation. In
fact, as Quality has acknowledged, the record shows that the agency was
contemplating the issuance of purchase orders to both it and Courtesy. Protester’s Supplemental Comments at 5. Procurement authorities are presumed to act
in good faith and in order for our Office to conclude otherwise, the record
must show that procuring officials intended to injure the protester. Cycad Corp., B‑255870,
The protest is denied.
Anthony H. Gamboa
General Counsel