Matter of: The Futures Group International

B-270397.2 May 16, 1996 Jump To VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights DIGEST Protest that a particular type of experience on the part of an offeror's key contract employee was a prerequisite for award is denied where the solicitation did not mandate such experience and where. The agency's actions during negotiations should not have led the protester to conclude that such experience was mandatory and to structure its offer accordingly. Protest that solicitation funding requirement and related cost evaluation criterion were unfair is dismissed as untimely since it concerns apparent solicitation improprieties that should have been protested before proposals were due. Protest that agency did not adequately justify selection of higher cost offeror is denied where such offeror overall received a higher evaluated cost score than did the protester. View Decision Matter of: The Futures Group International File: B-270397.2 Date: May 16, 1996 * Redacted Decision DIGEST Attorneys DECISION The Futures Group International (TFGI) protests the award of a contract to Management Sciences for Health (MSH) under request for proposals (RFP) No. 521-95-005, issued by the Agency for International Development (AID). The solicitation sought offers for a cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to implement the Health Systems (HS) 2004 Project in Haiti. TFGI protests that the awardee's Chief of Party (COP) lacks overseas experience as the COP of a large multisectoral health project, which TFGI contends was a prerequisite for the award. TFGI also protests that both MSH's and its own cost proposals were unfairly evaluated, and that the selection of MSH's higher-cost offer was improper. We deny the protest. BACKGROUND The HS 2004 Project is intended to provide immediate support to the government of Haiti in reestablishing and restructuring essential health services throughout the country. The contract in issue concerns the first of the project's two-phase approach--the contract's objectives are to assist Haiti's Ministry of Public Health and Population in its health reform policy efforts; support direct service delivery; and support service to reinforce those two program components. Technical Evaluation The RFP, issued on May 23, 1995, listed 13 personnel positions, although it encouraged contractors to propose different mixes as capabilities permitted. The first position listed was the COP/Senior Health Administrator--the only individual specified as "key" (i.e., essential to the work)--who was to provide guidance and direction for the project's implementation and for all contractor personnel; serve as key counterpart to the Haitian Ministry Project Coordinator; and act as contractor representative. The RFP provided that proposals would be rated and ranked on the specified evaluation factors, and that the offerors' technical and cost scores would be used as guides in determining the proposal that was the most advantageous to the government. The technical evaluation was to constitute 80 percent of the offeror's score, and the cost evaluation, 20 percent. Offerors were advised that cost would become increasingly important as proposals approached technical equality, and might be the deciding factor between proposals approximately equal in technical merit. The three technical evaluation factors were Quality and Responsiveness of Proposal and Technical Approach, worth a total of 35 points; Institutional Capabilities, worth a total of 16 points; and Personnel Capabilities, worth a total of 29 points. The Personnel Capabilities factor referenced the 13 listed personnel positions, and advised that AID would evaluate the offeror's "ability to provide the anticipated qualifications or another mix which is considered equal or better." The two subcriteria in the Personnel Capabilities factor that concerned the COP were: "I. Qualifications of Senior Health Administrator, Health Policy Advisor, the Public Sector Financial Management Advisor and the HIS [Health Information Systems] advisor. a. Type and number of years of relevant experience in integrated health project implementation and the provision of technical assistance to the public sector. b. (for Senior Health Administrator) Type and number of years as team leader of a large, complex, multidisciplinary technical assistance effort in a developing country." The first subcriterion was worth 6 points, and the second, 10 points. AID received five proposals by the July 6 due date, which were evaluated by a technical evaluation committee comprised of three AID employees and two senior officials of the Haitian government. The average scores for the proposals submitted by MSH and TFGI were, respectively, [deleted] points--including an average of [deleted] points for the two COP-related subcriteria; and [deleted] points--including an average score of [deleted] for the COP-related subcriteria.