GAO Sustains Protest for Awardee’s Organizational Conflicts

Vandeventer Black – In its recent decision in the Matter of: Steel Point Solutions, LLC, the GAO considered the concept of Organizational Conflicts of Interest (OCI).  OCIs usually fall into one of three categories: “biased ground rules,” “impaired objectivity,” and “unequal access to information.”  In this case, the GAO sustained a protest because the Agency failed to adequately consider the extent of potential impaired objectivity OCIs on the part of the awardee. Impaired objectivity OCIs often arise where a contractor’s work under one government contract may interfere with the contractor’s ability to render impartial advice on another contract.