American Lawn Service, Inc.

B-267715 Dec 20, 1995 Jump To VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Was restricted to small business concerns and contemplated the award of a combination fixed-price (lump sum) and indefinite quantity (fixed unit prices) contract for 1 year with an option for up to 6 additional months. The RFP also stated the following evaluation consideration: "[p]roposals unrealistic in price or in terms of technical or schedule commitments will be considered lacking in technical competence or comprehension of the complexity and risks of the contract requirements and their ratings lowered accordingly.". Technical proposals were evaluated by the technical advisor on an adjectival scale of exceptional. The technical proposals of American Lawn and one other offeror were rated "exceptional" overall. View Decision Matter of: American Lawn Service, Inc. File: B-267715 Date: December 20, 1995 Agency improperly made award to an offeror submitting the lowest-priced, technically acceptable offer where the solicitation stated that award would be made on a best value basis and the agency, in lieu of considering the value to the government of higher-rated, higher-priced offers, awarded the contract based on the lowest-priced, technically acceptable offer. Attorneys DECISION American Lawn Service, Inc., protests an award to Maintenance Engineers under request for proposals (RFP) No. N62755-94-R-2826, issued by the Department of the Navy, Naval Facilities Engineering Command, for grounds maintenance and tree trimming services for Central and West Oahu, Hawaii. American Lawn protests that the Navy's source selection decision deviated from the stated evaluation plan. We sustain the protest. The RFP, issued on December 19, 1994, was restricted to small business concerns and contemplated the award of a combination fixed-price (lump sum) and indefinite quantity (fixed unit prices) contract for 1 year with an option for up to 6 additional months. The RFP stated a best value evaluation plan with the price and technical proposals being of equal importance. The RFP listed five technical evaluation factors and their relative importance to each other. The RFP also stated the following evaluation consideration: "[p]roposals unrealistic in price or in terms of technical or schedule commitments will be considered lacking in technical competence or comprehension of the complexity and risks of the contract requirements and their ratings lowered accordingly." The Navy received initial proposals by January 31, 1995. Technical proposals were evaluated by the technical advisor on an adjectival scale of exceptional, acceptable, marginal, and unacceptable. The technical proposals of American Lawn and one other offeror were rated "exceptional" overall. Maintenance Engineers's initial technical proposal was rated "marginal" overall. The proposed prices of American Lawn and Maintenance Engineers, and the government estimate, were: Offeror Fixed Price Indef. Qty. Total American Lawn $1,313,520 $384,050 $1,697,570 Maint. Eng. 1,114,800 56,015 1,170,815 Govt. Est. 1,788,653 210,930 1,999,583 By letter dated May 19, the Navy conducted discussions with all the offerors whose proposals were included in the competitive range, and amended the RFP requirements. The letter included technical concerns to be addressed by each offeror, as well as a list of those contract line item numbers (CLIN) for the indefinite quantity work where the proposed CLIN prices varied significantly from the government estimate; the list specifically identified whether the CLINs were high or low in comparison to the government estimate. In this letter, most offerors, including American Lawn and Maintenance Engineers, were also told that the lump sum fixed-price portion of their proposals "appear[ed] low in relation to the cost of the work required by the contract" and were advised to reevaluate their pricing. The Navy requested each offeror to provide a breakdown of the price for the fixed-price portion of its proposal "so [the agency could] confirm and analyze [the offeror's] understanding of the specification requirements." Revised proposals were submitted by June 2. American Lawn's technical rating remained "exceptional." Maintenance Engineers's rating was upgraded to "acceptable," although it was still rated "marginal" on one technical factor--equipment--because the proposal did not demonstrate that the offeror could perform the contract requirements with the equipment proposed. The revised prices and revised government estimate were: Offeror Fixed Price Indef. Qty. Total American Lawn $1,496,970 $330,470 $1,827,440 Maint. Eng. $1,254,000 $56,015 $1,310,015 Govt. Est. $1,745,728 $210,930 $1,956,659 American Lawn provided the requested breakdown of the lump sum fixed-price portion of its price and responded to the agency's concerns about its prices with an explanation for each CLIN in question.