AIX Tech, LLC (B-423417; B-423417.2; B-423417.3)

You should not care

Category: Technical evaluation, price evaluation, conflict of interest

Date: 11 June 2025

URL: https://www.gao.gov/products/b-423417%2Cb-423417.2%2Cb-423417.3

AIX Tech, LLC, protested DISA’s issuance of a task order to Defense Solutions Group, LLC (DSG), under RFP No. 832369148 for strategic advisory support related to DISA’s program executive office transport. AIX alleged both that DISA’s evaluation of DSG’s proposal—particularly the technical and price aspects—was flawed and that the agency failed to address a purported conflict of interest involving DSG’s joint venture member and a DISA contracting officer.

The RFQ for strategic advisory support services under ENCORE III IDIQ contracts was to be awarded based on best value basis, with technical/management more important than cost/price. AIX and DSG both submitted quotes; both received “high confidence” on all technical factors, but DSG’s price was $58.8M versus AIX’s $107.5M. DISA selected DSG, finding its quote slightly technically superior and significantly less expensive. AIX’s protest restated that DSG’s low price should have triggered more scrutiny, asserted technical shortcomings, and further alleged a conflict because a joint venture owner at DSG is married to a DISA contracting officer.

The protest was dismissed in part and denied in part. Most protest grounds were dismissed as speculative and legally insufficient; the remaining conflict of interest claim was denied for lack of evidence.

For industry and counsel, this decision offers another recent illustration that fixed-price protests based only on adverse price differentials—absent specific, factual evaluation errors—are generally nonstarters at GAO, and that mere familial relationships do not create OCIs.

Digest

1. Protest arguments challenging various aspects of the agency's evaluation of the awardee's proposal and best-value tradeoff decision are dismissed as legally insufficient where the protest grounds are insufficient and rely on speculative allegations concerning the awardee's proposed price.
2. Protest alleging that the agency failed to adequately assess and address an alleged conflict of interest is denied where the agency meaningfully considered the allegation and reasonably concluded that no conflict of interest existed.