Hive Group, LLC (B-423677)

You should not care.

Categories: Compliance, page limitations

Date: 16 September 2025

URL: https://www.gao.gov/products/b-423677

Hive Group, a small business, protests its elimination from the competition for multiple BPAs under an RFQ issued by the Department of Commerce for advisory and integrated management solutions support services. The RFQ required a phase I submission including a cover page of no more than two pages containing specified vendor information. The agency found Hive's cover page was three pages—including a standalone graphic title page—and that the first two pages did not contain all required GSA MAS contract-holder information.

Hive argued its standalone graphic title page should not count toward the page limit, pointing to the agency's Q&A response about documentation formats and the phase II instructions excluding certain documents from page counts. GAO disagreed. The phase I instructions specified a "cover page (2 pages max)" and nothing in the solicitation permitted additional pages to be excluded. The Q&A addressed the format for providing GSA schedule documentation, not the inclusion of extraneous pages. The phase II exclusions applied only to phase II. Vendors must prepare quotations within established page limitations and assume the risk that agencies will not consider excess pages.

The protest is denied.

Digest

Protest that the agency unreasonably evaluated the protester's quotation is denied where the record shows the agency's evaluation was reasonable and conducted in accordance with the terms of the solicitation.