Protest of Proposal Rejection for Organizational Conflict of Interest

An offeror protested the refusal by the Department of Energy (DOE) to consider its proposal for award under a request for proposals (RFP) for technical consulting and management support services. DOE disqualified the protester and awarded the contract to another firm because it determined that conflict of interest existed for the protester and its subcontractor. The RFP required the submission of a disclosure statement regarding organizational conflicts of interest, a necessary prerequisite for the consideration of a proposal. DOE believed that an actual or potential conflict of interest existed because the protester's close corporate ties with the natural gas industry. The recommendation to disqualify the protester stated that many members of the board of trustees and a majority of its executive committee included officials of gas and oil companies. The protester argued that its disqualification was an improper and arbitrary action based on faulty interpretation of the protester's purpose and operational constraints. The protester's allegation that DOE failed to consider fully the statutory and regulatory constraints on the protester to act in the public interest was not supported by the record. The protester submitted no evidence for this statement. It was unnecessary to address the protest against disqualification of the subcontractor for failure to comply with the interest provisions in the RFP. The protest was denied.