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DISA Award Upheld Despite Massive Price Gap: GAO Says Sticker Shock Isn’t Enough

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In AIX Tech, LLC, B-423417, et al., June 11, 2025, AIX Tech protested the award by the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) of a task order to Defense Solutions Group (DSG) for strategic advisory support services, challenging the evaluation of DSG’s proposal, the best-value tradeoff decision, and alleging an undisclosed conflict of interest (OCI) tied to a personal relationship between an agency employee and the chief executive officer of DSG’s joint venture partner. GAO dismissed most of the protest as legally insufficient and denied the remainder after finding no evidence of impropriety.

The Decision
GAO dismissed the protest in part and denied the protest in part, ruling that:

  1. Speculative Price-Based Arguments Don’t Hold Up: AIX argued that DSG’s low price (roughly half of AIX’s) must mean its proposal failed to meet the RFP’s requirements. GAO flatly rejected this, finding the claim rested entirely on speculation, without any evidence about DSG’s actual technical approach or staffing plan.
  2. Realism Not Required Here: AIX’s criticisms were styled as technical, but GAO noted they were essentially arguments that DSG’s price was unrealistically low—and the solicitation didn’t require a price realism analysis for this fixed-price task order.
  3. No Evidence of Unequal Treatment: AIX claimed it was treated unfairly because it received the same “high confidence” technical rating as DSG despite the substantial pricing difference. But GAO noted AIX failed to identify any specific evaluation inconsistency or similarity between proposals to support a disparate treatment claim.
  4. OCI Allegations Fall Short Without “Hard Facts”: AIX also alleged that a personal relationship between a DISA employee and the chief executive officer of DSG’s joint venture member created an OCI. GAO denied the claim after reviewing the agency’s investigation, which found no involvement, access, or communication by the DISA employee in the procurement process.

Key Takeaways for Contractors

  1. Low Price Alone Is Not Evidence of an Evaluation Flaw: If you think the awardee’s low price is unrealistic, you’ll need evidence—not assumptions—to make it a protestable issue.
  2. Don’t Rely on Implicit Price Realism Claims: Unless the solicitation specifically requires a realism analysis, GAO won’t second-guess an awardee’s low price—even if it’s well below yours.
  3. Support Disparate Treatment Claims with Side-by-Side Evidence: To allege unequal treatment, you must show nearly identical proposal content was evaluated differently—not just differences in price or outcome.
  4. Hard Facts Are Required for OCI Allegations: GAO gives wide deference to agency OCI investigations. Without proof of access, influence, or participation, OCI claims will typically fail.