SEC Headquarters Lease Award Worth $1B Upheld After Challenge

A challenge to a $1.3 billion lease award to provide office space for the Securities and Exchange Commission’s headquarters near Washington, D.C.'s Union Station has been rejected by the Government Accountability Office.

Second Street Holdings LLC protested the award of the lease to Cayre Jemals Nick LLC, challenging nearly every aspect of the General Services Administration’s conduct. Among other things, Second Street claimed the agency failed to amend its request for bids to reflect changes in the government’s requirements.

The GAO rejected that argument and related claims as untimely in a Jan. 13 decision released Wednesday. The “protester learned of ...