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| Decision Summary BP-A034: Appeal filed by Global Access Staffing Services regarding the solicitation for manpower services to provide nurses and other medical health care professionals to the Commonwealth Health Center (Issued 12/17/02) This decision is on an appeal filed by Global Access Staffing Services (Saipan), Inc. (Global) from the denial of its protest by the Director of the Division of Procurement and Supply (P&S) pertaining to the solicitation for manpower services to provide nurses and other medical health care professionals to the Commonwealth Health Center (CHC) under Request for Proposals (RFP) 02-CHC-0092. The Public Auditor denies the appeal. The Office of the Public Auditor (OPA) finds that 1) Global is not a bidder "outside the Commonwealth" for purposes of the RFP and CNMI Procurement Regulations (CNMI-PR) §3-102(7); 2) upon receipt of a Notice of Intent to Propose, P&S is not required to provide an acknowledgment, nor is it required to provide certification of the status of the bidder for purposes of CNMI-PR §3-102(7); 3) regardless of any claimed benefit of the proposal to the Commonwealth, P&S does not have the authority to waive the submission deadline requirements of the RFP and CNMI-PR §3-102(7); 4) Global's alleged "good faith" attempt to submit its proposal in compliance with the RFP and CNMI-PR §3-102(7)'s requirements does not excuse the late submission or provide grounds for P&S to waive the submission deadline requirement; and 5) P&S's interactions and determinations with regard to Global in this matter did not exhibit a lack of "good faith and fairness". Furthermore, the Public Auditor denies P&S's Request for Summary Decision. The Public Auditor further finds that 1) the action on appeal is the non-acceptance of the proposal submitted by Global in response to RFP 02-CHC-0092, and that Global had filed a timely appeal of such action and is not barred from arguing against P&S's rejection of its proposal for failure to attend the mandatory pre-proposal conference; 2) P&S did not forfeit its ability to raise the issue of Global's failure to attend the pre-proposal meeting when it did not raise the issue in its August 30, 2002 letter notifying Global of the non-acceptance of its proposal due to late submission; and 3) P&S acted within its authority in rejecting Global's proposal for failure to attend the mandatory pre-proposal meeting.
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