Rockville Mailing Service, Inc.

B-270161.2 Apr 10, 1996 Jump To VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Rockville argues that the corrective action is unwarranted and will result in an improper auction. First-class mail that is presorted may qualify for discount rates when specified minimum volumes are met. The RFP contemplates that the contractor will commingle the SSA's mail with its own sorted first-class mail to qualify for better volume rate discounts. The contractor will pick up SSA's first-class mail from its Woodlawn. All of which were included in the competitive range. Another offeror were technically equivalent and recommended award to Rockville based on its low price. Award was made to Rockville. Its daily average was 118. Which is all that is relevant to this procurement. The agency determined that Rockville's proposal was incorrectly scored and should have received 3.5 points for its NDM volume. View Decision Matter of: Rockville Mailing Service, Inc. File: B-270161.2 Date: April 10, 1996 Where agency ascertained that it had made award based on misevaluation of awardee's technical proposal which had resulted from an unclear solicitation provision, agency reasonably determined to take corrective action. Where awardee's price has been disclosed, reopening negotiations after disclosure of all competitor's prices, does not constitute an improper auction where an improper award had been made. Attorneys DECISION Rockville Mailing Service, Inc. protests the agency's decision to reopen discussions and reevaluate proposals as corrective action after an award had been made to Rockville under request for proposals (RFP) No. SSA-RFP-95-2255, issued by the Social Security Administration (SSA), for mail sorting services. Rockville argues that the corrective action is unwarranted and will result in an improper auction. We deny the protest. The RFP sought proposals for all services necessary to prepare first-class metered mail to qualify for rate discounts under the United States Postal Service (USPS) barcoded and presorted first-class discount programs. First-class mail that is presorted may qualify for discount rates when specified minimum volumes are met. In this regard, the RFP contemplates that the contractor will commingle the SSA's mail with its own sorted first-class mail to qualify for better volume rate discounts. Under the contract, the contractor will pick up SSA's first-class mail from its Woodlawn, Maryland facility on a daily basis, sort the SSA's mail, add it to the contractor's other sorted first-class mail, and then deposit it at the Post Office for delivery. In order to permit SSA to evaluate the estimated volume of first-class mail that each offeror could commingle with SSA's first-class mail during sorting to qualify for rate discounts, the RFP required offerors to include average daily volume of current National Distribution Mail (NDM) as part of the technical proposal. The RFP provided that award would be made on a best value basis, with technical factors more important than price. The solicitation contained the following technical evaluation factors and points (with a possible total of 100 points): (1) understanding of the requirements of the statement of work (SOW) (10 points); (2) offeror's technical approach (20 points); (3) experience of offeror's proposed technical staff (15 points); (4) experience of offeror's proposed management staff (15 points); (5) offeror's experience in barcoding and presort operations to include volumes of mail handled, amount of experience and qualification rates achieved in the barcoding/presorting of national distribution mail (25 points); and (6) facilities and equipment (15 points). The agency received five proposals in response to the solicitation, all of which were included in the competitive range. The agency received four best and final offers (BAFO), including those submitted by Rockville and Jet Sort, Inc. Jet Sort's BAFO received a total technical score of 100 points at an evaluated price of $2,470,195. Rockville's BAFO received a total technical score of 91 points at an evaluated price of $1,121,088.50. Under the experience criteria, the agency evaluated each offeror's current volume of NDM on the following basis: First-Class NDM Volumes Technical points below 250,000 3.5 250,000-350,000 6.5 over 350,000-450,000 9.5 over 450,000 12.5 In its proposal, Rockville had identified its NDM volume as ranging from 100,000 to 150,000 pieces daily, to as much as 300,000 to 500,000 pieces daily. The technical evaluation panel (TEP) treated Rockville's volume as falling in the 350,000 to 450,000 range, and gave Rockville's proposal 9.5 points, out of a possible 12.5, under the NDM volume evaluation subfactor. The source selection official (SSO) determined that the technical proposals of Jet Sort, Rockville, and another offeror were technically equivalent and recommended award to Rockville based on its low price.