Opinion ID: 1979789
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Timeliness of Trifax's Key Personnel Protest

Text: IIU's bid was available for inspection by the public, including Trifax, when the bids were opened on May 12, 2000. See D.C.Code § 2-303.03(d) (2001). It would have been apparent to Trifax from such an inspection that IIU's bid did not include the nurse identifications and resumes required by the IFB. Indeed, the contracting officer specifically noted the absence of the resumes on the Bid Abstract Form when he opened the bids. Thus, by August 15, 2000, when Trifax received formal notification of the contract award, it should have known the basis for its claim that IIU's bid was non-responsive. Trifax's failure to protest the contract award on that ground until October 20, 2000, would appear to be a clear violation of the ten-day filing requirement of D.C.Code § 2-309.08(b)(2). The CAB and the Superior Court deemed the key personnel claim to have been timely-asserted on the rationales that it was reasonably included within, or provided additional support for, a protest ground that Trifax presented on August 30, 2000its claim that IIU did not commit to pay required wages and benefits. If those rationales are valid, which we need not and do not decide, [8] the key personnel claim would be treated as having been presented on August 30 rather than October 20. But the key personnel claim would not have been timely even if it had been presented on August 30, 2000. Because Trifax should have known the factual basis for the claim on August 15, its window of opportunity for asserting it in a bid protest closed ten business days later, on August 29, 2000. It is immaterial that the CAB found the minimum wage claim to have been timely-asserted on August 30. The CAB's reasoning, that Trifax had no opportunity to ascertain the facts needed to frame that claim until August 22, does not apply to the key personnel claim, for Trifax had access to all the facts necessary to assert the latter claim by August 15. Having expired on August 29, the key personnel claim could not be resurrected by the subsequent filing of another claim, even if the two claims were factually interrelated. Even if it was proper for the CAB to consider the facts underpinning the key personnel claim to the extent they provided additional support for the minimum wage claim, that does not mean it was proper for the CAB to consider the key personnel claim as an independent ground of protest after it rejected the minimum wage claim. At that point, the rationale for considering the otherwise untimely key personnel claim evaporated. [9] In the Superior Court, Trifax advanced a different rationale for finding that its October 20 assertion of the key personnel claim was timely. See footnote 5, supra. Trifax argued that the claim was timely because it had no standing to protest the award to IIU until October 5, 2000, when the District finally acknowledged the facts confirming its status as an aggrieved party. Taking into account the Columbus Day holiday, October 20 was the tenth business day following October 5. As this argument was neither presented to nor relied on by the CAB, exceptional circumstances must exist in order for this court to consider it. See, e.g., Sawyer Prop. Mgt. of Md., Inc. v. District of Columbia Rental Hous. Comm'n, 877 A.2d 96, 105-06 (D.C.2005); Bio-Medical Applications of the District of Columbia v. District of Columbia Bd. of Appeals & Review, 829 A.2d 208, 217 (D.C.2003); Walsh v. District of Columbia Bd. of Appeals & Review, 826 A.2d 375, 380 (D.C.2003); Jewell v. District of Columbia Police & Firefighters Ret. & Rel. Bd., 738 A.2d 1228, 1231 (D.C.1999). No exceptional circumstances are present here, for Trifax's standing argument is fallacious. The protest statute allows protests by aggrieved bidders, offerors or contractors. D.C.Code § 2-309.08(a). The Rules of the CAB define an aggrieved person to mean an actual or prospective bidder or offeror (i) whose direct economic interest would be affected by the award of a contract or by the failure to award a contract, or (ii) who is aggrieved in connection with the solicitation of a contract. 45 D.C.Reg. 1384, 1385 (March 13, 1998), codified at 27 D.C.M.R. § 100.2(a) (2006). See also Group Ins. Admin., 633 A.2d at 19 ([A] disappointed bidder need demonstrate only that if its bid had been fairly and honestly considered, there was substantial chance that it would receive an award. . . .) (internal quotation marks, brackets and citations omitted). When it moved to dismiss Trifax's protest, the District argued that Trifax was not aggrieved and lacked standing because another bidder, Motir, was next in line after IIU for the contract award. The CAB has held that a bid protestor is not an aggrieved person, and therefore lacks standing to protest a contract award, where it would not be in line for the award even if its protest were upheld. See, e.g., Protests Of Commando K-9 Detectives, Inc., and Executive Sec. & Eng'g Tech., Inc. CAB Nos. P-405 & P-406, 42 D.C.Reg. 4597, 4598 (May 6, 1994). As Trifax pointed out, the District failed to concede that Motir's bid was not responsive (and hence that Motir was not next in line) until October 5. Nonetheless, the District's challenge to Trifax's standing was erroneous. Trifax became an aggrieved party when the contract was awarded to its competitor. Moreover, the District's challenge did not mislead Trifax into failing to present its key personnel claim on time. Trifax correctly understood that it was an aggrieved party as of August 15, 2000, when it received formal notice of the award. [10] Trifax acted on that understanding by filing its bid protest fifteen days later. Thus, Trifax's failure to present its key personnel claim by the August 29 deadline was not due to the District's challenge to its standing (nor could it have been, as the District did not dispute Trifax's standing until September 20). The District's standing challenge therefore did not excuse Trifax's delay or justify extending the filing deadline.