MWL client, The Electric On-Ramp, Inc. (EOR), was eliminated from a Defense Intelligence Agency procurement because DIA said its proposal was late. MWL attorney William T. Welch filed a protest for EOR at the U.S. Court of Federal Claims claiming that the proposal was under the control of the DIA prior to the time for receipt of proposals and under FAR § 15.208(b) the proposal could not have been declared late. MWL argued in the alternative that, even if the court found EOR’s proposal to be late, the fact that the RFP had required transmission of an electronic version of the proposal and EOR had timely submitted its electronic version of its proposal, the late hard-copy of the proposal was a minor informality and should have been waived by the contracting officer. The Court accepted both arguments proposed by MWL. The Court held that the proposal was not late and, even if it were late, the previous timely submission of an electronic version did not give EOR any advantage over other offerors and this minor informality should have been waived. The court’s opinion ordered the agency to (1) reinstate EOR’s proposal as eligible for consideration for award, (2) evaluate EOR’s proposal in the same manner as all the other timely filed proposals, and (3) not make an award without first considering EOR’s proposal.

Click here for a link to the opinion itself.