SynergisT JV, LLC (B-422384.2; B-422384.4)

You should care.

Category: Multiple award schedule, labor categories, SINs

Date: 11 March 2025

URL: https://www.gao.gov/products/b-422384.2%2Cb-422384.4

SynergisT JV, LLC, a women-owned small business, protested DHS’s award of a part 8 BPA for cybersecurity and project management services under GSA MAS SIN 54151HACS, after the agency excluded SynergisT’s quotation for including labor categories (LCATs) drawn from other SINs (or categories) on its schedule. GAO sustained the protest, holding that the solicitation did not restrict vendors to quoting LCATs only under SIN 54151HACS and that DHS had applied an unstated evaluation criterion in rejecting the protester’s offer.

Agency misunderstood its own solicitation: GAO found that although the RFQ stated the procurement was being conducted under SIN 54151HACS, it did not contain any express limitation requiring vendors to quote labor categories only from that SIN. Instead, as GAO emphasized—citing Phoenix Envt’l Design and Pitney Bowes—vendors may propose items from any SIN on their Federal Supply Schedule contract unless the solicitation explicitly states otherwise.

Eliminating quote for using other SINs was unreasonable: SynergisT had proposed two key positions—Program Manager and Technical Writer—using LCATs under SINs 541611 and 54151S, which were both on its GSA MAS contract. Because there was no prohibition in the RFQ against doing so, DHS’s rejection of the proposal was based on an unreasonable interpretation of the solicitation.

Protest sustained: GAO concluded that DHS applied an unstated evaluation criterion and that SynergisT was prejudiced as a result. GAO recommended reevaluation of the quotation or amending the RFQ if DHS intended to restrict SIN usage.

Digest

Protest alleging that the agency erred in eliminating the protester’s quotation from the competition for quoting labor categories (LCATs) under special item numbers (SINs) from the protester’s Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) contract other than the SIN under which the solicitation was issued is sustained where the solicitation did not limit applicable SINs.