Interested parties aggrieved by a solicitation or the award of any resulting contract, may file a written notice of protest with the General Manager of SMART and shall serve the copies upon the General Counsel. The General Manager or his designee shall hear and determine the merits of said protest, and shall advise all competitors that a protest has been filed. The General Manager may receive evidence and legal arguments from any interested party, but shall not be bound by the rules of evidence nor formal procedure. Unless otherwise directed by the General Manager, issues will be judged on the basis of written evidence and written arguments. All documents received by the General Manager shall be stamped with the date and time received and logged into the protest file folder. The General Manager shall promptly issue his findings and conclusions to the protesting party, and shall advise the Board of Directors and other interested parties.
Issues addressing the adequacy of Proposals or requests for Proposals, including without limitation the pre-award procedure, the instructions, general conditions and specifications and scope of work must be received by the General Manager no later than eight (8) calendar days prior to the time set for receipt of Proposals. Thereafter, such issues are deemed waived by all interested parties. When the General Manager decides that a protest lacks merit, all interested parties shall be so advised, in writing, and the evaluation and award process will continue. Notice of decision is served upon all interested parties by certified mail.
Notice of protest against an award must be received by the General Manager within five (5) days immediately following the award. When notice of protest against the award is received prior to the execution of the contract for the relevant procurement, and the Board of Directors has not made a finding that the procurement is urgently needed or performance will be unduly delayed, or delay will result in harm to SMART, the execution of the contract will be deferred until the General Manager decides that the protest is meritorious. If the General Manager decides that the protest lacks merit, the contract will be executed after five (5) days have elapsed commencing with the first day following the date of the General Manager's decision. The General Manager's decision must be in writing and is final. Notice of decision is served upon all interested parties by certified mail.
Review of protests by the FTA will be limited to a determination as to whether or not the grantee has a written protest procedure or fails to follow its procedures. Protest to the FTA is governed by the procedures outlined in FTA Circular 4220.1B, Chapter 1.
In addition, any protests by an interested party regarding this procurement shall be made in accordance with any and all applicable state or local law, ordinance and/or regulation. After such administrative remedies have been exhausted, an interested party may file a protest with the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) of the U.S. Department of Transportation pursuant to the procedures provided in FTA C 4220.1D. Alleged violations of certain federal requirements provide a separate complaint procedure. See, for example, Buy America Requirements, 49 CFR 661 (Section 661.15) and Participation by Disadvantaged Business Enterprise in Department of Transportation Programs, 49 CFR 23 (Section 23.73).
Failure to comply with the above protest procedures will render a protest untimely and/or inadequate and shall result in its rejection.