February 4, 2004 -- (by WhatTheyThink.com's Senior Editor, Gail Nickel Kailing) -- On Monday February 2, the August 19, 2003 decision by the Government Printing Office (GPO) to award a contract to Noosh, Inc., for a contractor-hosted, web-based printing procurement system was overturned. A new contract was awarded to e-LYNXX, Inc., as the result of Government Accounting Office (GAO) recommendations that the GPO conduct new oral presentations by the original participants, perform a new technical evaluation of the firms’ quotations, and make a new source selection decision. These recommendations were in response to a protest filed by e-LYNXX and sustained on December 3, 2003, by the Government Accounting Office. e-LYNXX did not submit a protest to overturn the original award to Noosh but instead protested the agency’s evaluation of its technical submission and the contracting officer’s source selection decision. In sustaining the protest, the GAO recommended that the GPO reopen the competition and make a new selection decision. As a result, the respondents to the GPO’s original July 10, 2003 RFQ delivered their oral presentations again for consideration, and the contract was awarded to e-LYNXX. Dave Hannebrink, Noosh's Senior Vice President of Marketing & Business Development, told WhatTheyThink, “We believed we won the original award fairly – and were surprised to learn that it had been protested. We really don’t have any more information on which to make a comment right now.” e-LYNXX Vice President Doug Harbach says the company is pleased with the award and gratified that the GPO conducted a fair and thorough evaluation of the competing proposals. “Based on the GPO's Scope of Work, we believed our printLYNXX solution provided the best choice on the merits to power their web-based procurement system. We look forward to the opportunity to help Public Printer Bruce James and his team meet their ambitious goals for a new Federal print procurement system.” The full copy of the decision is on the GAO’s website at: http://www.gao.gov/decisions/bidpro/292761.htm.