KnightsBridge Systems LLC (B-423882, B-423882.2)

You should not care.

Category: Technical evaluation, competitive range, past performance

Date: 2 January 2026

URL: https://www.gao.gov/products/b-423882,b-423882.2

KnightsBridge protested its exclusion from the competitive range in a Smithsonian procurement for strategy, design, and development support for the National Museum of African American History and Culture’s online Searchable Museum experience. After the agency reevaluated the proposal in response to an agency-level protest, KnightsBridge remained outside the competitive range and renewed its objections at GAO.

GAO found the evaluation reasonable. The agency’s criticism on content strategy was tied to weaknesses in the qualifications and fit of the proposed content strategist, not to an unstated requirement to provide a fully developed strategy with undefined content. GAO also rejected KnightsBridge’s claim that the Smithsonian used unstated “interpretive and cultural goals,” concluding those expectations were logically grounded in the statement of work’s emphasis on museum-quality, educational, and culturally aligned digital storytelling.

GAO further found no error in the past-performance review because the experience KnightsBridge relied on appeared in a different proposal volume than the one evaluated under that factor. The protester’s bias allegations were dismissed as speculative and unsupported.

The protest is denied in part and dismissed in part.

Digest

1. Protest alleging errors in the evaluation of the protester's proposal is denied where the record demonstrates that the evaluation was reasonable and in accordance with the solicitation.
2. Protest alleging bias is dismissed as legally and factually insufficient where the protester's bare allegations are speculative, and the protester has adduced no evidence of wrongdoing.