(Editor’s Note.  With expanding public versus private competitions, you need to consider what the government is likely to estimate, especially when staffing levels are not specified in the solicitation.  Lower staffing estimates by the government are a likely source for competitive pricing advantage and the following indicates the difficulty in challenging these estimates.)

Remtech was selected to compete against the government’s most efficient organization (MEO) proposal for information services work under an OMB Circular A-76 competition.  When it lost, Remtech’s appeal asserted the MEO’s proposed staffing for quality control and program management was insufficient.  The GAO disagreed, ruling that Remtech’s proposed staffing did not establish a “threshold of acceptability”, the proposed work scope did not specify any staffing or hour requirements and the MEO’s proposed staffing, though lower than Remtech’s, was reasonable considering the government’s greater “experience and subject matter expertise” (Remtech Services, Inc., GAO, B-292182).

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