Manutek Inc. (B-423476.2; B-423476.4)

You should not care.

Category: Technical evaluation, past performance

Date: 8 January 2026

URL: https://www.gao.gov/products/b-423476.2,b-423476.4

Manutek protested NOAA’s award of multiple Weather Domain contracts under the ProTech 2.0 professional, scientific, and technical services vehicle. The case is mostly a straightforward challenge to proposal evaluation under a highest technically rated offeror methodology.

The procurement used a two-phase process. Manutek advanced to phase two but was ultimately not selected after NOAA concluded the firm’s proposal had significant negative findings under the most important non-price factors. Manutek argued the agency misevaluated its demonstrated technical experience and management approach and should have selected it for award given its strong past performance.

GAO denied the protest. It found NOAA reasonably concluded that Manutek’s proposal lacked the detail needed to substantiate the breadth and depth of experience the firm had claimed, and that strong past performance did not overcome weaknesses under the more important technical and management factors. Under the RFP’s highest technically rated offeror scheme, the agency reasonably excluded proposals with significant negative findings from the award group.

The protest is denied.

Digest

Protest that the agency unreasonably evaluated the protester's proposal and improperly made the selection decision is denied where the record shows that the evaluation and selection decision were consistent with the terms of the solicitation and the proposal's contents.