Greetings.. Yesterday i've received an email from DLA asking me to withdraw my protest for an award issued in March.. The award was given to another company for a much higher cost.. I've intentionally kept the quote low to get the job but yet my bid got neglected. Now they're telling me that they accept they've made a mistake, further evaluations will be made more carefully (which never happens) and if it's ok for me to withdraw my protest because of the costs incurred by the government..

this is something i'm seeing for the first time and would like to get some advice from experienced users.. Should i accept this request and withdraw my protest or deny it to finalize the process? The amount to get from the job was about $12.000. What might be the process if i deny their request? Will they give the job to me or relist the solicitation? Thanks in advance for your help..

if you withdraw your protest, you can hope that the agency will do what it said it will do.

If you do not withdraw your protest, the agency will declare to the GAO (or other protest tribunal) that it is taking corrective action and will petition the GAO to dismiss your protest, and then you can hope that the agency will do what it said it will do.

At least, this is how I understand these matters.

Hallowed, you need to get some legal advice here.  Depending on what the facts are, you may be entitled to recover your protest costs if your protest was meritorious and DLA waited too long to take corrective action.

It might be an agency protest.

20 minutes ago, joel hoffman said:

It might be an agency protest.

Yes it is. They just want me to withdraw my protest, no info about the rest..

3 hours ago, hallowed said:

The amount to get from the job was about $12.000. What might be the process if i deny their request? Will they give the job to me or relist the solicitation?

A $12,000 job awarded in March? Are you sure the work isn't already completed? Or is your protest holding up the work?

19 minutes ago, Don Mansfield said:

A $12,000 job awarded in March? Are you sure the work isn't already completed? Or is your protest holding up the work?

Don, i don't know if the work is compeleted or not. It's been 4 months and i've just received a response to my protest. Contract specialist didn't mention anything about the completion of the job. This is the content of the email sent to me:

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After further research of the contract file, DLA has determined that an error occurred during the evaluation process. Unfortunately, the Government has already incurred a significant portion of costs associated with this award.  Due to this, DLA respectfully requests that your company. withdraw their protest and allow DLA to continue with this award as it is in the best interests of the Government. Please provide a response to this request by COB 22 July 2021.

The error in the evaluation process has been noted and steps have been taken to avoid this mistake in future evaluations.

We sincerely apologize for this inconvenience this may have caused.

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I can't tell from the e-mail, either. If there's still a chance of you getting the work, then I don't think you should withdraw your protest just to be nice. But if the work is done, what do you have to gain? Did you have a lot of bid and proposal costs or attorney's fees? If not, what outcome do you want?

A mischievous person in your position might request a written apology on DLA letterhead signed by the HCA and a DLA coin in exchange for dropping the protest.

So, it seems the agency erred in its award decision, but the work may be complete or almost complete and hallowed is not going to get the work.  Withdrawing the protest means hallowed loses and the agency's record remains spotless (no sustained protests).  I support Don's question to hallowed, "what outcome do you want?"  FAR 33.103(d)(2)(vi) says a protest to the agency is supposed to include a "[s]tatement as to the form of relief requested."

The agency does nOt need hallowed's permission to "continue with this award" if "it is in the best interests of the Government" (FAR 33.103(f)(3)).

On the other hand, a withdrawal might help someone in the agency out of a bureaucratic bind, and hallowed's courtesy might be remembered later.