The Federal Acquisition Regulation
(FAR) 48 CFR Chapter 1, provides general procedures for handling
protests submitted by contractors to federal agencies. FAR Part 33
"Protests, Disputes, and Appeals prescirbes policies and procedures
for filing protests and for processing contract disputes and
appeals.
If DHS is not allowed to
collect this information is there will be no information available
for the agency (DHS) to review and determine if the protest is
valid. This could mean that a business has a valid protest but
because DHS may not collect the required information from the
protestor to make that determination and take necessary action to
correct or resolve (e.g., the protest could be that a solicitation
is unnecessarily restrictive; the protest could be that the
protestor believes his/her proposal was not fairly evaluated;
etc.). Failure to collect this information would result in DHS
being unable to evaluate the protestor’s allegations/concerns and
take necessary corrective action (e.g., loosen the requirements in
a restrictive solicitation to enable full and open competition;
review the award decision to ensure the offeror’s proposal was
fairly and properly evaluated in accordance with the terms and
conditions of the solicitation).
US Code:
41
USC 401 Name of Law: The Office of Federal Procurement Policy
Act of 1974
According to the DHS
Operational Status Review (an internal agency report), the number
of protests has increased each year over the past two years in
annual respondent and burden hours. This increase in current
protest activity is not the result of a deliberate program change,
but from a new estimate of actions that are not controllable by the
Federal Government. Although the number of protest has increased,
there has not been any change in the information being
collected.
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that
the collection of information encompassed by this request complies
with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR
1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding
the proposed collection of information, that the certification
covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a
benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control
number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of
these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked
and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.