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Latvian Connection LLC Shareefa Complex 5th Floor Kuwait City, Kuwait Tel: 001 965 950 50 775 January 28, 2013 BY REGISTERED EMAIL

General Counsel Government Accounting Office 441 G Street, NW Washington DC 20548 Email: Protests@gao.gov Attn: Procurement Law Control Group, Room 1139
RE: Pre-Award Protest against the Department of the Armys 408ths U.S. ARMY CONTRACTING COMMAND SWAKUWAITs Solicitation W912D1-13-R-0003

Dear Procurement Law Group: Latvian Connection General Trading and Construction LLC, ( LC LLC) A Veteran Owned Business, Shareefa Complex, 5th Floor, Kuwait City, Kuwait, tel: [001 965 5012 2074]. Email: [keven.barnes@LatvianConnectionLLC.com] , ( DUNS 534749622 and CAGE SGM59, submits this Pre- Award Protest against the 408ths U.S. ARMY CONTRACTING COMMAND SWA-KUWAIT, Department of the Army which is located at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait against Solicitation W912D1-13-R-0013 was posted on January 17, 2013 ( Exhibit 3 ), while the SF1449 solicitation states that the solicitation was posted on January 9, 2013 ( Exhibit 1 ) was solicitation, W912D1-13-T-0003 ( Exhibit 1 ). The Contracting Command is under LTC MICHAEL F. SCUTERI, and the contracting officer in charge of the solicitation is Ms. Nazneen Fakera, Fakera.nazneen.civ@mail.mil, GS CIV USA USA USARCENT 408th. Ms. Fakera is conducting a construction solicitation ( Exhibit 7) and Camp Arifjan contracting officers have had site visits conducted in prior Video Wall solicitation W912D1-13-R-0002 that Camp Arifjan subsequently cancelled November 17, 2012 ( Exhibit 4). Solicitation W912D1-13-R-0002 had a site visit, Questions and Answers, and Amendments while Video Wall W912D1-13-R-0003 had only one document posted under a site that appears to be taken down, but is being used to conceal the solicitation and not give any site visit, Questions and Answers or Amendments and the bid is due in the VERY FIRST MINUTE of January 29,2013 at 1200AM. Latvian Connection LLC, a Veteran Owned Business that operates an office in Kuwait has once again been prejudiced by Camp Arifjans contracting officers using the commercial website www.usmilitarycontracting.com instead of the Federal Acquisition Regulations only recognized GPE ( Government Point of Entry ) www.fbo.gov which date and time stamps postings. This prejudices Latvian Connection LLCs opportunity at bidding on this solicitation in a fair and open competition. The correct solicitation, W912D1-13-R-0003 was substituted for the incorrect W912D1-13-T-0003 under a broken PDF JPG logo only on January 25, 2013. The solicitation was amended without the use of a SF30 and has not had Questions and Answers posted which prejudices all prospective bidders. The website www.usmilitarycontracting.com appears to be inactive except for this convoluted Video Wall while giving documents for a Furniture solicitation and has unresponsive contracting officers; unresponsive Contracting Commander; and unresponsive Legal Counsel. Latvian Connection requests that the solicitation be cancelled and recompeted on www.fbo.gov and have a site visit, drawings and specifications and be conducted for a reasonable amount of time that allows 7 days to obtain base access paperwork for the site visit it should be conducted for 30 days at a minimum. Latvian Connection LLC requests that the contracting officer facilitate the paperwork necessary so that an informed bid may be made. Latvian Connection LLC requests that at least 3 visitors be allowed to attend the site visit so that Latvian Connection LLCs teaming partners can attend to assist with the estimation of the solicitation ( FAR 9.601 )
_____________________________ In accordance with 4 C.F.R. 21.1 (c ) (1), the relevant electronic mail address for this protest is keven.barnes@LatvianConnectionLLC.com ( Representative for the Protester Latvian Connection General Trading and Construction LLC) The Contracting Officer for this procurement is Ms. Nazeen Fakera, GS CIV USA USA USARCENT 408th CSB PARC, Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, APO AE 09366. Ms.Nazneens telephone number is 001- +965 2389 2135, and her email is Fakera.nazneen.civ@mail.mil www.usmilitarycontracting.com Solicitation W912D1-13-T-0003]

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The General Counsel U.S. Government Accountability Office January 28, 2013 Per FAR 33.103 Protests to the agency (2) Latvian Connection LLC Shareefa Complex Kuwait City, Kuwait Representative of Protester: Keven Barnes, CEO Email keven.barnes@LatvianConnectionLLC.com

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) should sustain this protest, stay the performance of the Contract, and direct the Department of the Armys 408ths U.S. ARMY CONTRACTING COMMAND SWA-KUWAIT to repair the defects in Solicitation W912D1-13-R-0003 and post the solicitation to www.fbo.gov for a minimum of 30 days. Latvian Connection LLC is a U.S. Registered Small Business with a headquarters in California and as a Small Business expects to see the solicitation posted on FEDBIZOPPS, the Federal Acquisition Regulations only recognized GPE ( Government Point of Entry ) and the GAO direct the Department of the Armys 408ths U.S. ARMY CONTRACTING COMMAND SWA-KUWAITs Solicitation to accurately post their solicitations W912D1-13-R-0003 and use date and time stamps. The GAO should recommend that the Army cease using the commercial website that is paid for and hosted by a non-contracting official ( Exhibit 6), which is paid with private funds of Chadd Cobb, and who is not associated with Camp Arifjan, the Army Contracting Command, or the 408th ACC-SWA-Kuwait . This site is not an Official U.S. Government website and the Army Contracting Command should be directed to utilize the only Official website that is authorized and recognized by the Federal Acquisition Regulations. Latvian Connection LLC is a U.S. Registered Small Business with a headquarters of Healdsburg, California, DUNS 830587791 and CAGE 5GLB3. Latvian Connection LLC, being a Veteran Owned Business needs to see the solicitations from Camp Arifjan, 408th, ACC-SWAKU post their solicitations on www.fbo.gov and abide by the Federal Acquisition Regulations for posting of all solicitations greater than $ 25,000.00 . The Contracting Commander, 5.201 General. (a) As required by the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 637(e)) and the Office of Federal Procurement Policy Act (41 U.S.C. 416), agencies must make notices of proposed contract actions available as specified in paragraph (b) of this section. (b)(1) For acquisitions of supplies and services, other than those covered by the exceptions in 5.202 and the special situations in 5.205, the contracting officer must transmit a notice to the GPE, for each proposed (i) Contract action meeting the threshold in 5.101(a)(1); (ii) Modification to an existing contract for additional supplies or services that meets the threshold in 5.101(a)(1); or (iii) Contract action in any amount when advantageous to the Government. (2) When transmitting notices using electronic commerce, contracting officers must ensure the notice is forwarded to the GPE. (c) The primary purposes of the notice are to improve small business access to acquisition information and enhance competition by identifying contracting and subcontracting opportunities. (d) The GPE may be accessed via the Internet at http://www.fedbizopps.gov. INTERESTED PARTY STATUS As discussed below LC LLC seeks to compete for the contract that the proposed RFP (Exhibit 1). Latvian Connection LLC incorporates all the below facts and (Exhibits) into this Interested Party Status section. Further, if this protest is sustained and Department of the Armys 408ths U.S. ARMY CONTRACTING COMMAND SWA-KUWAIT evaluates Latvian Connections timely proposal, LC LLC, a responsible offeror will have a reasonable chance of winning the Contract. Therefore, Latvian Connection LLC is an actual offeror whose direct economic interest is affected by the award of the Contract and hence, an interested party. 31 U.S.C. 3551 (2000); FAR 33.101; 4 C.F.R. 21.0(a)(2006); Designer Assoc. , Inc.,B-293226, FEB 12, 2004 C.P.D. 114 at 2.

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The General Counsel U.S. Government Accountability Office January 28 , 2013 TIMELINESS OF THIS PROTEST The Pre-Award protest against the Department of the Armys 408ths U.S. ARMY CONTRACTING COMMAND SWA-KUWAITs Solicitation W912D1-13-R-0003 i s timely if: 21.2 Time for filing.(a)(1) Protests based upon alleged improprieties in a solicitation which are apparent prior to bid opening or the time set for receipt of initial proposals shall be filed prior to bid opening or the time set for receipt of initial proposals. In procurements where proposals are requested, alleged improprieties which do not exist in the initial solicitation but which are subsequently incorporated into the solicitation must be protested not later than the next closing time for receipt of proposals following the incorporation. This is a pre-award protest and is filed before the bid due in time of 12:00 AM Local Kuwait time on January 29, 2013.

FACTUAL GROUNDS OF THE PROTEST 1. The RFP The Department of the Armys 408ths U.S. ARMY CONTRACTING COMMAND SWA-KUWAIT issued the RFP on 18 SEP 2012. (Exhibit 1) electronically by posting it on the commercial website, www.usmilitarycontracting.com under the section Kuwait, http://www.usmilitarycontracting.com . The site appears to have been taken down as of January 25, 2013 because all JPG images have been removed. All links appear to be dead links and the POC of the solicitation IS a non functional link ( Exhibit 7) The bid due in date is January 29, 2013 at 12:00 AM Local Kuwait time. The solicitation is for construction of a video wall, room construction, and furniture installation on Camp Arifjan. Quotes were to include pictures, technical data and specifications. The quotation was to be evaluated under FAR 52.212-2 Commercial The solicitation shown under the posting on January 15, 2013 was being conducted by Contracting Officer Ms Ronnie Keys. Both Ms. Keys and SSgt Long were contacted by Latvian Connection to say that the solicitation did not appear on January 15, 2013 as they posted on www.usmilitarycontracting.com ( Exhibit 3 Posting on www.usmilitarycontracting.com). While the document that was linked was solicitation No. W912D1-13-T-0003 ( Exhibit 1 )

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The correct solicitation was posted on www.usmilitarycontracting.com on January 25, 2013 and a bid due in date of January 29, 2013 at 12:00 AM. ( that is ONE MINUTE AFTER MIDNIGHT January 29, 2013 ) Exhibit 7 and all the JPG Logos and Images of www.usmilitarycontracting.com were removed including the PDF logo.

Both the contracting officer, Ms. Ronnie Keys (chong.r.keys@kuwait.swa.army.mil ) and the 408ths Legal Counsel, Mr. Charles Wilder were written on January 20, 2013 to ask for a clarification about the erroneous posting ( Exhibit 10 ). Neither Ms. Ronnie Keys or Mr. Wilder wrote Latvian Connection LLC back. On January 25, 2013, www.usmilitarycontracting.com appeared to be taken down as all the JPGs and Logos were removed. All PDF symbols stopped being visible as if the link failed to work. There was no link to POC of Jemel Hogen. ( Exhibit 8 ) In the past there has been links to POCs ( Exhibit 9 ) ON JANUARY 25, 2013, THE SITE www.usmilitarycontracting.com appeared to look like this:

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As of January 25, 2013, under the X that was have been the PDF logo for solicitation W912D1-13-R-0003, appeared a SF1449 that has been changed at the direction of Camp Arifjan Contracting Officers and their counsel Charles Wilder, but no 2nd PDF is posted only a substitution of the correct solicitation for the incorrect W912D1-13-T-0003. It is possible that the owner of www.usmilitarycontracting.com , Chad Cobb posted the correct document ( Exhibit 6). There is no Questions and Answers, no site visits, no drawings and there are not 7 PDFs as there was for Video Wall W912D1-13-R0002.( Exhibit 16) Latvian Connection LLC requested a site visit on January 21, 2013. ( Exhibit 11 ) and that email was responded to by SSgt Long who stated that the solicitation W912D1-13-T-0003 had been awarded already and did not respond to the request for a site visit and CCd the contracting officer, Ms. Ronnie Keys. ( Exhibit 12 )

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The General Counsel U.S. Government Accountability Office January 28 , 2013 In the email of my request for a site visit, I had Print Screens of the posted solicitation on www.usmilitarycontracting.com

Inside of the email that went to the contracting officer and their Legal Counsel, Charles Wilder, there is no doubt which solicitation that Latvian Connection LLC is requesting a site visit for( Exhibit 11).

End of Print Screen The solicitation was not posted on the GPE that is required by the Small Business Act ( 15 U.S.C. 637 (e) and the Office of Federal Procurement Policy Act ( 41 U.S.C. 416 )
5.201 General. (a) As required by the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 637(e)) and the Office of Federal Procurement Policy Act (41 U.S.C. 416), agencies must make notices of proposed contract actions available as specified in paragraph (b) of this section. the contracting officer must transmit a notice to the GPE, for each proposed (i) Contract action meeting the threshold in 5.101(a)(1); (ii) Modification to an existing contract for additional supplies or services that meets the threshold in 5.101(a)(1); or (iii) Contract action in any amount when advantageous to the Government. (2) When transmitting notices using electronic commerce, contracting officers must ensure the notice is forwarded to the GPE. (c) The primary purposes of the notice are to improve small business access to acquisition information and enhance competition by identifying contracting and subcontracting opportunities. (d) The GPE may be accessed via the Internet at http://www.fedbizopps.gov.

The solicitation posting on January 25, 2013 was a contract modification and a SF30 Amendment was not posted, only a revised solicitation. (Exhibit 7)

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II.

Latvian Connection LLCs Proposal

Latvian Connection LLC, a Small Business Administration registered company that is a Veteran-Owned Business, ( Exhibit 14 ) is a company that would like the opportunity to bid in a fair and open competition on this RFP and to be evaluated based on a solicitation that is posted for a reasonable length of time. The solicitation has now been posted for only 3 days and doesnt have any drawings, specifications or an offered site visit. The solicitation has unresponsive contracting officers that are deceitfully using a website that appears to be defunct and taken down to post solicitation W912D1-13-R-0003 ( Exhibit 8 ). Latvian Connection LLC will be using a Teaming Partner to work with under FAR 9.601. The solicitation was not accurately posted on January 15, 2013 and even less time that the charade of the contracting officers posting the actual solicitation on January 25, 2013 and not posting any amendments, drawings, specifications, or an offered site visit is not fair to Latvian Connection LLC as it cannot make an informed bid based on the information currently being supplied. Request of a ruling by the Comptroller General of the United States
W912D1-13-R-0003

Latvian Connection LLC specifically requests that a ruling be made about the Pre-Award protest of Solicitation th and ask the Department of the Armys 408 s U.S. ARMY CONTRACTING

COMMAND SWA-KUWAIT, LTC MICHAEL F. SCUTERI - CAMP ARIFJAN CONTRACTING COMMANDER to take corrective action and start posting their solicitations on www.fbo.gov and to either extend this
solicitation by 30 calendar days, post drawings and specifications and to hold a site visit, or cancel the solicitation and recompete the solicitation on the GPE that is the only Government Point of Entry recognized by the Federal Acquisition Regulations. Latvian Connection LLC further requests that Camp Arifjan contracting officers recognize that Latvian Connection LLC is a U.S. registered and Veteran-Owned Business that is recognized by the Small Business Administration, and post all solicitation that are greater than $ 25,000 in value on the Federal Acquisition Regulations only recognized GPE, www.fbo.gov.

REQUEST FOR HEARING OR CONFERENCE AND PROTECTIVE ORDER If the issues in this case cannot be resolved on the basis of the documents requested, then Latvian Connection LLC requests a hearing on all of the matters set forth above. 4 C.F.R. 21.1 (d)(2008). LC LLC does not request a protective order. LEGAL GROUNDS OF PROTEST I. There is Overwhelming Evidence of Latvian Connection LLC requested the correct solicitation be posted not only to the contracting officer, but to the Legal Department and that request, January 20, 2013 ( Exhibit 11) was not answered. Latvian Connection LLC requested a site visit that was afforded the Video Wall bidders on the cancelled Camp Arifjan solicitation W912D1-13-R-0002 ( Exhibit 16)

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The General Counsel U.S. Government Accountability Office January 28 , 2013 II. The Armys 408ths U.S. ARMY CONTRACTING COMMAND SWA-KUWAIT has a fundamental obligation to have procedures not only to receive offers and quotations, but to also give a reasonable amount of time, drawings, specifications, and site visits so that bidders can make an educated bid based on the solicitation materials. East West Research Inc., B-239565, B-239566, Aug. 21, 1990, 90-2 CPD 147 at 4, aff'd, Defense Logistics Agency--Recon., B-239565.2, B-239566.2, Mar. 19, 1991, 91-1 CPD 298 at 23. Latvian Connection LLC was prejudiced by the contracting officer and by 408th Contracting Commander LTC MICHAEL F. SCUTERI by not allowing enough time to conduct a construction-type solicitation that clearly could not be conducted in 4 days with only 1 SF1449 document. LTC Scuteri was requested on January 25, 2013 for any and all solicitations not electronically posted ( Exhibit 17) and he didnt respond. He did not ensure that Amendments corrected the wrongly posted solicitation on www.usmilitarycontracting.com and he didnt ensure that the bidding materials and site visit was made available, and he didnt ensure that contracting officers and POCs for solicitation W912D1-13-R-003 gave a reasonable amount of time for the solicitation to run as directed by FAR Part 5, 5.203 Publicizing and response time

5.203 Publicizing and response time.

Whenever agencies are required to publicize notice of proposed contract actions under 5.201, they must proceed as follows: (a) An agency must transmit a notice of proposed contract action to the GPE (see 5.201). All publicizing and response times are calculated based on the date of publication. The publication date is the date the notice appears on the GPE. The notice must be published at least 15 days before issuance of a solicitation, or a proposed contract action the Government intends to solicit and negotiate with only one source under the authority of 6.302, except that, for acquisitions of commercial items, the contracting officer may (1) Establish a shorter period for issuance of the solicitation; or (2) Use the combined synopsis and solicitation procedure (see 12.603). (b) The contracting officer must establish a solicitation response time that will afford potential offerors a reasonable opportunity to respond to each proposed contract action, (including actions where the notice of proposed contract action and solicitation information is accessible through the GPE), in an amount estimated to be greater than $25,000, but not greater than the simplified acquisition threshold; or each contract action for the acquisition of commercial items in an amount estimated to be greater than $25,000. The contracting officer should consider the circumstances of the individual acquisition, such as the complexity, commerciality, availability, and urgency, when establishing the solicitation response time. (c) Except for the acquisition of commercial items (see 5.203(b)), agencies shall allow at least a 30-day response time for receipt of bids or proposals from the date of issuance of a solicitation, if the proposed contract action is expected to exceed the simplified acquisition threshold. (This solicitation was expected to exceed the Simplified Acquisition Threshold)

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The General Counsel U.S. Government Accountability Office January 28, 2013 III. The Small Business Act does apply overseas. ( From a SBA legal opinion November 8, 2012 - Exhibit 18) Discount Machinery & Equipment Inc. 70 Comp. Gen 108, B-240525, 90-2 CPD 420 (1990) (emphasis added ). Interestingly, the GAO further states that it believes the Small Business Act applies to agencies located outside of the United States. As evidenced by the language of the Small Business Act, Congress intended the SBA to have broad review authority where an American small business concern is involved. In this regard, the Small Business Act, 15 U.S.C. 637(d)(1), expresses its intended coverage in broad terms, as follows: It is the Policy of the United States that small business concerns . Shall have the maximum practicable opportunity to participate in the performance of contracts let by any Federal agency. ( Emphasis added). The Small Business Act also adopts the Administrative Procedure Acts definition of federal agency; accordingly, the Act applies to each authority of the Government of the United States excluding the Congress. See 5 U.S.C. 551(1)(1988); 15 U.S.C. 632(b). The Act and the COC program it authorizes apply generally to agencies within the executive branch of government. Fry Communications, Inc., 62 Comp.Gen. 164 (1983), 83-1 CPD 109. The Commission is an executive branch agency. See 22 U.S.C. 3611 (1988). With regard specifically to the COC procedures, the Small Business Act again defines its application broadly, stating that SBA determinations of a small business concerns responsibility are binding upon Government procurement officers. See 15 U.S.C. 637(b)(7)(A). Since the Small Business Act evidences an intent to implement a government wide policy American small business interests, and since the Panama Canal Commission is an executive agency within the meaning of the Act, we see no basis to conclude that the Commissions procurements are exempted from the Acts coverage merely because the agency is physically located in the Panama Canal Zone.

IV.

SET ASIDES valued above SAT (Exhibit 19 ) Citing from the Fax Memo to the GAO: With respect to acquisition valued above the SAT, both the SBAs regulations and the FAR provide that the contracting officer shall set aside any acquisition over $ 150,000 for small business participation when there is a reasonable expectation that ( 1) (o)ffers will be obtained from at least two responsible small business concerns offering the products of different small business concerns; and (2) (a)ward will be made at fair market prices. 48 C.F.R. 19.502-2(b); 13 C.F.R. 125.2(f). Again, the burden is placed in the contracting officer not the small businss- to determine whether the procuring agency will obtain offers from competitive small businesses. This would at the very least indicate that the Small Business Administration can review the requirement that the Army post all of its solicitations greater than $ 25,000 on FARs only recognized GPE, www.fbo.gov And Latvian Connection LLC would like this GAO level protest to be referred to the Small Business Administration for their review of FAR 5.201 and posting of solicitations..

5.201 General. (a) As required by the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 637(e)) and the Office of Federal Procurement Policy Act (41 U.S.C. 416), agencies must make notices of proposed contract actions available as specified in paragraph (b) of this section. the contracting officer must transmit a notice to the GPE, for each proposed (i) Contract action meeting the threshold in 5.101(a)(1);

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(ii) Modification to an existing contract for additional supplies or services that meets the threshold in 5.101(a)(1); or (iii) Contract action in any amount when advantageous to the Government. (2) When transmitting notices using electronic commerce, contracting officers must ensure the notice is forwarded to the GPE. (c) The primary purposes of the notice are to improve small business access to acquisition information and enhance competition by identifying contracting and subcontracting opportunities. (d) The GPE may be accessed via the Internet at http://www.fedbizopps.gov.

This solicitation demonstrates that the Army should not be posting solicitations to www.usmilitarycontracting.com because they can too easily manipulate their postings and the postings are not date and time stamped. Small Businesses such as Latvian Connection LLC depend upon teaming agreements under FAR 9.601 and www.fbo.gov has an Interested Bidders tab that would help Latvian Connection LLC locate other interested bidders to partner with. An example of an interested bidders tab that also shows other Small Business Concerns is ( Exibit 20 and Exhibit 20a ) which is Camp Arifjans fellow contracting officers from the Defense Logistics Agency which have an operation on Camp Arifjan and are holding a solicitation that was posted on www.fbo.gov called SP4510-13-R-0002 DLA Disposition Service and that solicitation was conducted for performance at Camp Arifjan.

By Armys 408ths U.S. ARMY CONTRACTING COMMAND SWA-KUWAIT, LTC MICHAEL F. SCUTERI - CAMP ARIFJAN CONTRACTING COMMANDER and his Contracting Officer Nazneen Fakera purposefully not allowing a site visit, concealing this solicitation under what appears to be a defunct and abandoned website that is still being used by the 408th Contracting Command of the Army Contracting Command has once again prejudiced Latvian Connection LLCs chances of fair and open competition. By Camp Arifjan again posting a solicitation for effectively only 3 days and requiring the bid to be in one minute after midnight on January 29, 2013 is nothing less than disingenuous. For the Legal Counsel of Camp Arifjan to continue to support such actions really invites an Inspector Generals investigation into the continued concealment and manipulation of solicitations in order to mislead U.S. Registered Veteran Owned businesses that want to bid on solicitations in Kuwait.

V.

Latvian Connection LLC Has Been Prejudiced

Prejudice requires a reasonable likeliehood that Latvian Connection LLC would have been awarded the Contract if we had been allowed the opportunity of a reasonable amount of time, drawings, specifications, and site visits afforded to contractors who have a conflict of interest relationship with Camp Arifjans contracting officers that would allow a competitive advantage to other bidders over a U.S. Registered Veteran Owned business. Such a determination is not susceptible to a precise mathematical calculation; rather, prejudice requires only that but for the agencys actions, the protestors would have had a reasonable chance of receiving the award. Anthem Alliance for Health, Inc., TRICARE Management Activity Reconsideration, B-278189.5, July 13, 1998, 98-2 CPD 66. A

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reasonable possibility of prejudice therefore is sufficient to sustain the protest. United Intl. Engg., Inc., B-245448.3, Jan 29, 1992, 92-1 C.P.D. 122. Europe Displays, Inc., B-297099.

REQUEST FOR DOCUMENTS Latvian Connection LLC requests that the following materials be included in the agency report, pursuant to 4 C.F.R. 21.1(d)(2008): All Question posted by all bidders that refer this RFP. - W912D1-13-R-0003 The Answers give to those bidders. The Contract as proposed All drawings as proposed All documents that refer or relate to the efforts to obtain competition from U.S. Registered Small Businesses in Kuwait. All documents that refer or relate to the efforts to increase competition All documents that refer or relate to the Contracting Officers Market Research The Bid Abstract and Evaluations

REQUEST FOR RELIEF AND CONCLUSION Latvian Connection LLC respectfully asks the GAO to forward this Protest to the Small Business Administration for their review. Latvian Connection LLC requests that the agency cancel the solicitation and run the solicitation on www.fbo.gov for at least 30 days or transfer the solicitation to www.fbo.gov and extend the solicitation 30 days, post all drawings, specifications similar to the cancelled solicitation of W912D1-13-R-0002 and hold a site visit that allows enough time for paperwork to access Camp Arifjans barrier to entrance to U.S. Veteran Owned business owners. Latvian Connection LLC requests that this solicitation be conducted as a Set-Aside for Veteran-Owned business that the Department of the Army instruct the Armys 408ths U.S. ARMY CONTRACTING COMMAND SWA-KUWAIT to fulfill the requirement that 23 % of all dollars they spend in Kuwait is with U.S. Registered Small Businesses and specifically Veteran-Owned businesses. We also request that Latvian Connection LLC be reimbursed the costs of filing and pursuing its protest, including reasonable protest preparation fees. Bid Protest Regulations 4 C.F.R. 21.8(d)(1) (2010).

Respectfully submitted,

Keven L. Barnes

Digitally signed by Keven L. Barnes DN: cn=Keven L. Barnes, o=Latvian Connection General Trading and Construction LLC, ou, email=keven.barnes@latvia nconnectionllc.com, c=KW Date: 2013.01.29 17:49:47 +03'00' __________________________

Keven L. Barnes CEO Latvian Connection LLC