Well, that was fast — less than a week after the General Services Administration announced the Department of Health and Human Services would stay in its Parklawn offices, a losing bidder is protesting the decision.
One Largo Metro LLC, an entity controlled by Peter Ng Schwartz Management Co., filed a protest March 16 with the Government Accountability Office.
It is unclear which parts of the procurement or decision the group is protesting specifically — I'll update with more details as they become available.
The developer's Prince George's County planned mixed-use project was in the running for HHS, but lost out to the incumbent location, where owner The JBG Cos. will spend $270 million on renovations for the agency.
One Largo Metro is bounded by the Largo Metro station, Grand Boulevard, Lottsford Road and Harry S. Truman Drive and will include about 966,497 square feet of office space, 9,763 square feet of retail space and a 13,300-square-foot daycare center.
The GSA's Public Buildings Service has to file a defense with the GAO by April 18 and the GAO will make a decision by June 24.
According to the GAO, the statute requires that if a protest is filed within 10 days of an award, the agency must stop work on that contract. It is unclear whether the protest will bring the procurement to a halt, because the award announcement was made before a final lease was signed.
More details to follow.
Update 4:48 p.m.: Ron Gart, partner at Seyfarth Shaw LLP, is working with One Largo on the protest. He said until the GAO publishes a redacted version of the protest, the team can't say much.
"What we can say is: One, we're alleging that there were procurement irregularities and number two, and it's no real surprise, our client believes that it's got the most advantageous bid under the evaluation criteria," he said.
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