In Project Resources, Inc., the Government Accountability Office (GAO) placed a high burden on an offeror attempting to gain relief from a proposal lost by the government. The case involved a request for proposals (RFP) for environmental remediation services for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Project Resources timely sent its proposal to the Corps of Engineers, but apparently the government lost its proposal. After the Corps of Engineers failed to award Project Resources one of the five awarded contracts, Project Resources contacted the government who informed the company that its proposal could not be found. Project Resources filed a protest with the GAO along with a copy of the submitted proposal requesting that the GAO direct the agency to evaluate its proposal. The GAO refused, stating the general rule that the "negligent loss of proposal information does not entitle the offeror to relief." Although agencies have a "fundamental obligation" to safeguard information, the overarching goal of having an open playing field for all competitors trumps the "occasional loss" of a contractor's proposal since it would be unfair to allow an offeror reconstruct an offer after the closing date of proposals. Although the GAO conceded that this might be an "arguably harsh result," Project Resources did not provide "pre-closing evidence" of the proposal which might allow the GAO to disturb the Corps of Engineer's decision not to reopen the competition. The Corps of Engineers contracting officer testified that she knew of no other "comparable disappearance of a proposal" within the Sacramento District. This testimony precluded Project Resources from using the limited exception of allowing relief in the case of a "systemic failure resulting in multiple or repetitive instances of lost information."
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