You are a Contracting Officer for the Navy. You have released a solicitation through the Navy’s Seaport-e Multiple Award Contract for an IT contract with an estimated value of $150 million. Offerors are required to submit their proposals electronically into the Navy’s Seaport-e web-based portal by 2:00 this afternoon. Your solicitation warns Offerors that the web portal is “balky” and times out frequently, so they should not wait until the last minute to upload their proposals. At 1:55 you receive a frantic call from a Contractor that they have been uploading their multiple proposal documents since 1:25, but cannot load the last document or hit the “submit” button because the portal has frozen. You try to get into the portal yourself, but the system is frozen for you as well. At 2:00 the system locks the solicitation, preventing any further proposal submittals, and sends an automatic email to that Contractor advising them that their proposal was not accepted as late. The Contractor emails you the entire proposal at 2:05.
Do you accept the proposal? Why or why not? What are the potential negative consequences either way?