Summary

Caddell Construction Company, Inc. protests the Department of State's (DOS) decision to reaffirm its earlier award of a contract to American International Contractors (Special Projects), Inc. (AICI-SP), after a review of AICI-SP's eligibility to perform this work, conducted in response to our decision in Caddell Constr. Co., Inc., B-298949, Jan. 10, 2007, 2007 CPD para. 24. In that decision, we sustained Caddell's protest of an award to AICI-SP under request for proposals (RFP) No. SALMEC-06-R-0009, issued by DOS's Overseas Buildings Operations division, for the design and construction of a new U.S. embassy compound in Djibouti, in eastern Africa. The solicitation was subject to the Omnibus Diplomatic Security and Antiterrorism Act of 1986, as amended, (hereinafter, the "Diplomatic Security Act"), 22 U.S.C. 4852 (2000), which provides that only "United States persons" and "qualified United States joint venture persons" are eligible to compete for certain diplomatic construction projects. As discussed in greater detail below, DOS sought additional information from AICI-SP, after our earlier decision, in an effort to determine whether the company could properly be viewed as eligible for award of this contract given the restrictions of the Diplomatic Security Act; with this information DOS again concluded that AICI-SP is eligible here. Caddell argues that AICI-SP cannot qualify as a "United States person" or "qualified United States joint venture person" as those terms are defined by the Dipomatic Security Act, and, with respect to one provision of the statute, we agree.

We sustain the protest.