GAO Denies Protests Filed Over Navarro?s Win of New Legacy Management Support Contract

The Government Accountability Office late last week denied the two protests filed over Navarro Research and Engineering’s win of the new support services contract for the Department of Energy’s Office of Legacy Management. Portage and a team of Wastren Advantage-Stoller had each filed challenges over DOE’s decision in late January to name Navarro the winner of the new contract, valued at approximately $250 million. Navarro, Portage and WAI all declined to comment on the GAO’s decision.

Navarro is DOE’s third choice for the new Legacy Management support services contract, which was set-aside for small businesses. DOE initially awarded the contract to Portage in April 2013, and in response to the protests from the WAI team and Navarro, chose in May 2013 to take corrective action by re-evaluating all eight bids. In early 2014, DOE again chose to award the new contract to Portage, leading to a second round of protests from Navarro and the WAI team. In the spring of 2014, the GAO sustained Navarro’s protest but denied WAI-Stoller’s, and in response DOE again re-evaluated the bids submitted for the new contract, resulting in the decision early this year to name Navarro as the winner. That, in turn, led Portage and the WAI-Stoller team to file their protests with the GAO in February.