SIZE APPEAL OF: THOMAS SOLUTIONS, INC., APPELLANT RE: THE RAVENS GROUP

*1 On August 26, 2015, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Office of Government Contracting Area II (Area Office) issued Size Determinations Nos. 02-2015- 104/106/107, finding The Ravens Group (Ravens) to be a small business concern for the procurement at issue. The size determination was emailed to all parties on August 27, 2015.

*1 On September 16, 2015, SBA's Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) received the instant appeal from Thomas Solutions, Inc. (Appellant). The appeal begins:

*1 Because the appeal appeared to have been filed more than fifteen days alter Appellant's receipt of the size determination, OHA ordered Appellant to show cause why the appeal should not be dismissed as untimely. Appellant indicated that it transmitted the email containing the appeal on September 14, 2015. After investigating with the SBA's IT Department. OHA received confirmation that Appellant indeed submitted an email on September 14, 2015, that never reached OHA's inbox. Thus, September 14th is the date of OHA's receipt of the appeal petition.

*1 On September 24, 2015, Appellant responded to OHA's order. Appellant argues that even though Ravens “may have” received the size determination on August 27, 2015, the date of Ravens receipt “has no bearing on [Appellant's] date of legal receipt.” Response, at 2. Appellant cites previous OHA cases to establish that the sender of an email is responsible for ensuring its successful transmission. Id.; citing Size Appeal of Supplies Now, Inc., SBA No SIX-5655 (2015). Appellant concludes its appeal was timely and should be accepted by OHA.

*1 On September 25, 2015, Ravens tiled a reply to Appellant's response. Ravens argues Appellant cite to Size Appeal of Supplies Now, Inc., SBA No. SIX-5655 (2015) is inapposite to the situation here. Appellant, in its own appeal, acknowledges receipt of the size determination on August 27, 2015, thus its appeal, even if it reached OHA on September 14th, would still be untimely under 13 C.F.R. § 134.304(a).

*1 The instant appeal is untimely and I must dismiss it. In accordance with 13 C.F.R. § 134.304(a), a size appeal must be filed at OHA within fifteen days of receipt of the size determination. Here, Appellant's response to the show cause order does not even state what date, other than August 27, 2015, it received the email from the Area Office containing the size determinations. However, the Area Office provided a copy of the email containing the size determinations and it clearly shows that delivery was completed on August 27, 2015.

*2 Further, Appellant relies upon past OHA decisions to imply that the Area Office's email to Appellant on August 27, 2015, was not received by Appellant or that the Area Office was responsible for ensuring its delivery. I find this argument meritless. The Appeal itself admits Appellant received the Area Office's determination on August 27th. Appellant simply asserts its appeal is timely, yet fails to provide any evidence that the email containing the size determinations was not received on August 27, 2015, nor does Appellant provide an alternate date for email delivery that would make its appeal timely.

*2 OHA has no discretion to extend, or waive, the deadline tor filing an appeal. 13 C.F.R. §§ 134.202(d)(2)(i)(A), 134.304(c); Size Appeal of Supplies Now, Inc., SBA No. SIZ- 3655 (2015). In this case, the size determinations were delivered via email on August 27, 2015, making September 11, 2015, the last day for submitting a timely appeal petition. OHA did not receive the appeal petition until September 14, 2015, some three days later, thus Appellant's appeal is untimely.

*2 For the above reasons, I DISMISS the instant appeal as untimely.

*2 This is the final decision of the Small Business Administration See 13 C.F.R. § 134.316(d).