ABSS Solutions, Inc.; CICONIX LLC (B-423805, B-423805.2)

You should not care.

Categories: 8(a), ANC sole-source, new requirement

Date: 16 December 2025

URL: https://www.gao.gov/products/b-423805,b-423805.2

ABSS and CICONIX protested DHA’s decision to award a sole-source 8(a) contract to Chenega, an Alaska Native Corporation, for research support services. They argued the agency had effectively promised a competitive 8(a) follow-on and therefore could not pivot to a sole-source ANC award.

GAO denied the protests. The key point was that the protested award was treated as a new requirement, not the same one the agency had earlier contemplated competing. DHA had significantly descoped the effort, shrinking it from the much larger planned follow-on to a materially smaller contract. Under SBA’s rules, that magnitude of change was enough to make it a new requirement and therefore eligible for sole-source award to an ANC.

Because the agency had not removed the same requirement from an announced competitive 8(a) procurement, the sole-source award did not violate SBA regulations.

Digest

Protests alleging that agency failed to comply with Small Business Administration (SBA) regulations when awarding a sole-source contract to an Alaska Native Corporation is denied where the record reflects that the requirement was not previously competed within the SBA's section 8(a) program.