Integral Federal, Inc.—Reconsideration (B-423672.2)

You should not care.

Categories: Jurisdiction, reconsideration

Date: 8 December 2025

URL: https://www.gao.gov/products/b-423672.2

Integral Federal requests reconsideration of GAO's dismissal of its protest challenging a task order to SURVICE Engineering for Army research and development services at Aberdeen Proving Ground. GAO had dismissed the underlying protest for lack of jurisdiction because the task order value fell below the $35 million threshold for DOD IDIQ task order protests under 10 U.S.C. § 3406(f).

The core issue is how the task order came to fall below the threshold. The awardee's proposed cost was $39.17 million—above $35 million. But before award, the agency determined certain labor categories were "no longer required" and issued the task order for $28.55 million. Integral Federal argued the agency violated FAR 15.206(a) by failing to amend the solicitation when requirements changed, and that GAO should have resolved this merits question before addressing jurisdiction because the two were intertwined.

GAO dismissed the reconsideration request, finding it repeated the same four arguments from the underlying protest:

(1) Supreme Court precedent requires addressing intertwined merits and jurisdiction questions together; (2) prior GAO decisions on task order value involved discretionary evaluation adjustments, not mandatory FAR requirements; (3) agencies could circumvent GAO scrutiny by descoping requirements postevaluation to duck the $35 million threshold; and (4) no valid contract for $28.55 million existed because the agency could only accept Survice's $39.17 million offer.

GAO reaffirmed that the default rule is that task order value for jurisdictional purposes turns on the amount of the issued order. The order contained no unconventional compensation methods, so its stated value of $28.55 million controlled.

GAO acknowledged that the limited nature of its task order jurisdiction means certain agency actions may escape scrutiny but noted it is bound by Congress's express limitations—citing the Federal Circuit's observation in SRA International that FASA's protest ban applies "perhaps even in the event of an agency's egregious, or even criminal, conduct."

Notably, GAO observed in a footnote that even should the agency had amended the solicitation as Integral Federal argued was required, the task order value likely would still have fallen below $35 million, given that Integral Federal's own proposed cost of $32.29 million was also below the threshold.

The request for reconsideration is dismissed.

Digest

Request for reconsideration is dismissed where it only repeats arguments previously presented in the underlying protest.