$50B telecom contract protested over SAM access

As the final hours ticked away for contractor bid submissions in the General Service Administration's $50 billion Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions contract, a small service company filed a pre-award protest, saying it has continually been unable access to the Systems Award Management portal that GSA uses to collect bid submissions.

Staten Island, N.Y.-based Compuline International, which filed its pre-solicitation protest with the Government Accountability Office on Feb. 17, wants to be able to submit its bid to GSA via email or on a flash drive.

SAM registration is free, but registering companies must have a nine-digit Data Universal Numbering System number, a Commercial and Government Entity Code and tax ID number, as well as complete all of the relevant Federal Acquisition Regulation-based certifications.

The DUNS codes are overseen by Dun & Bradstreet; both companies and the federal government must pay substantial fees each year for use of the numbers. There is a federal effort to step away from using DUNS.

In EIS amendment documents, GSA said the protest will not hold up bid submissions -- due Feb. 22 -- or the evaluation of those bids.

The agency said that while it will receive and evaluate proposals, it won't award the contract until GAO issues a decision on the protest. GAO had put the protest filing into its docketing system and set May 26 as the decision date. GSA has said it's aiming to award the contract in late 2016.

GSA officials declined comment on the protest beyond what was said in the amendment filing.