Updated November 14, 2025
The GAO Decision has now been posted for this protest. See details below.
DIGEST
1. Protest alleging that agency failed to consider unmitigable organizational conflict of interest (OCI) is sustained where the agency failed to document its consideration of an apparent OCI arising from the awardee’s role providing a contract specialist in the agency’s procurement office.
2. Protest challenging reasonableness of agency’s technical evaluation is sustained where the evaluation of the protester’s quotation under the technical approach factor was unsupported by the record and inadequately documented.
3. Protest challenging agency’s best-value tradeoff decision is sustained where the agency’s tradeoff analysis did not include any documented rationale for not considering the protester’s lowest-priced quotation.
DECISION
Castro & Company, LLC, a small business of Alexandria, Virginia, protests the establishment of a blanket purchase agreement (BPA) with Contracts Management Enterprises, LLC (CME), a small business of Leesburg, Virginia, under request for quotations (RFQ) No. 9531BP25Q0010, issued by the Federal Election Commission (FEC) for financial management and accounting support services. The protester alleges that the awardee has an unmitigable organizational conflict of interest (OCI) that precludes it from award. The protester also challenges the agency’s evaluation of the protester’s technical quotation and the best‑value tradeoff decision.
We sustain the protest.
Protester: Castro & Company, LLC
Solicitation Number: 9531BP25Q0010
Agency: Federal Election Commission
File number: B-423689.1
Outcome: Sustained
Decision Date: Nov 13, 2025
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