(d)(4)(90) Protesters may submit a protest to the contracting officer or, under the authority of Executive Order (EO) No. 12979, Agency Procurement Protests, as implemented by FAR 33.103(d), may request an independent review of their protest at a higher level than the contracting officer. The decision authority for such an agency level protest under EO 12979 shall be the Chief of the Contracting Office (CCO). This authority may not be redelegated. In those instances where the CCO has had previous personal involvement with the procurement, the decision-maker shall be at a level above the CCO. This shall be the Executive Director, Contract and Acquisition Management, at activities where such a position has been established; or, where there is either no such position or the Executive Director, Contract and Acquisition Management, has also had previous personal involvement with the procurement, the decision-maker shall be the Deputy Commander. This independent review above the contracting officer level is not available as an appeal of a contracting officer’s decision regarding a protest. Rather, it is an alternative to filing a protest directly with the contracting officer. Solicitations must indicate that this independent review is available as an alternative to consideration by the contracting officer, rather than as an appellate procedure.
(91) Legal review is required on all protest decisions, whether the protest was submitted to the contracting officer or was submitted under EO 12979.
(92) DLA activities have flexibility in designing specific procedures for resolving agency level protests under EO 12979. However, procedures used shall ensure the protest decision authority reviews input from both the protester and the contracting officer in order to reach an independent decision. As with all protests, activities shall consider using Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) techniques in resolving agency level protests.
(93) Each activity shall collect information concerning agency level protests filed each fiscal year under EO 12979. This information shall include the number of protests filed and their disposition, whether or not there was a stay of the procurement or contract award, and the number of any subsequent protests to GAO.
