Alvarez and Associates, LLC (B-423591; B-423591.2)

You should not care.

Category: Process issue, other

Date: 7 July 2025

URL: https://www.gao.gov/products/b-423591%2Cb-423591.2

Alvarez and Associates, LLC, protested the Department of Veterans Affairs’ RFQ No. 36C10B24Q0030, a GSA Schedule competition for an electronic Freedom of Information Act (eFOIA) software solution supporting VA’s Office of Information and Technology. Alvarez argued that public LinkedIn comments by a former VA FOIA director—posted after a Bloomberg News report criticized Alvarez’s proposed subcontractor, AINS, LLC dba OPEXUS—compromised the integrity of the ongoing procurement, and later alleged a Procurement Integrity Act (PIA) violation tied to purported disclosures of quotation and source-selection information.

Prejudice and prematurity: GAO dismissed the initial protest because Alvarez failed to show competitive prejudice; the record showed only that VA had invited Alvarez to proceed to the step-two task demonstration, with no source-selection decision or postcomment agency action to evaluate. GAO treated the protest as speculative and therefore premature.

PIA allegation timing: GAO also dismissed the supplemental PIA claim as premature because Alvarez filed at GAO the same day it first provided notice to the agency; GAO generally will not consider PIA-based protests before the agency responds to a timely allegation under GAO’s rules.

The protest was dismissed because Alvarez remained in the competition and could not demonstrate prejudice, and the PIA claim was procedurally premature.

Digest

1. Protest that does not demonstrate prejudice, and merely reflects speculation regarding the agency's subsequent actions, is dismissed as premature.
2. Where protest alleging a Procurement Integrity Act violation was filed on the same day the protester gave the agency notice of the alleged violation, the protest is premature and will not be considered.