Omaha Graded a Bullet It Never Wrote Down

Industry asked the Corps's Omaha District the same question twice last summer, in different words, and got the same answer both times.

There is not a preference.

Fifteen months later that answer is the only reason a protest got sustained.

"What has to be in a synopsis before a selection board is allowed to grade you on it?"

GAO posted the redacted decision in Michael Baker-International Stantec JV, B-424641 and B-424641.2, to its recent-decisions list yesterday. The decision itself issued on Oct. 16, under a protective order.

Sustained in part, denied in part, and the sustained part is the kind that moves a slate.

Sixteen Statements, Five Seats

The requirement is synopsis W9128F25RA029, "Unrestricted Military & Civil A-E Services MATOC," NAICS 541330, PSC C219, run out of contracting office W9128F for projects across the Corps's Northwestern Division. The Corps was buying a target of five IDIQ contracts, five-year periods, fixed-price task orders from $250,000 to $25 million, against a total shared capacity of $200 million.

Brooks Act procurement, so FAR subpart 36.6 and no price in the ranking.

Five criteria in descending importance: specialized experience and technical competence, professional qualifications, past performance, capacity, knowledge of locality. Small business participation and award volume sat underneath as tie-breakers for firms already judged essentially equal.

Sixteen SF 330s came in by the Aug. 21, 2025 deadline. The board ranked them, pulled the seven most highly qualified for interviews, and on March 5, 2026 told Michael Baker-International Stantec JV it had finished tenth and was done.

For scale on how this office's A-E field is moving: the same contracting office stood up a six-seat A-E MATOC in August 2021 under solicitation W9128F21R0010, and FPDS records 22 offers received on each of those seats. This round drew 16 for a target of five.

Then the clock story, which is its own lesson. From synopsis to the day industry could actually read the decision ran 481 days, and exactly 95 of them were governed by a deadline anybody can enforce (chart below).