Sutron Corporation

Sutron Corporation BNUMBER: B-270456; B-270456.2 DATE: March 7, 1996 TITLE: Sutron Corporation ********************************************************************** Matter of:Sutron Corporation File: B-270456; B-270456.2 Date:March 7, 1996 Ross W. Dembling, Esq., Craig A. Holman, Esq., and Richard L. Moorhouse, Esq., Holland & Knight, for the protester. Sherry Kinland Kaswell, Esq., and Justin P. Patterson, Esq., Department of the Interior, for the agency. Henry J. Gorczycki, Esq., and Guy R. Pietrovito, Esq., , Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Agency reasonably found protester's proposal unacceptable where it offered inexperienced field maintenance technicians with insufficient hours and significantly lowered its price in its best and final offer without explanation, despite being advised during discussions that the offered technicians were considered inexperienced, that too few hours were being proposed, and that its price was considered questionably low, given the other concerns. DECISION Sutron Corporation protests the award of a contract to Vitel, Inc. under request for proposals (RFP) No. 14252-5-SP-10-13670, issued by the Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation, for preventive and remedial maintenance service of the hydrological and meteorological data acquisition (hydromet) system[1] in California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming. Sutron protests the agency's conduct of discussions, evaluation of proposals, and source selection decision. We deny the protests. The hydromet system consists of 164 remote sites at which a data collection platform (manufactured by either Sutron or Vitel) collects hydrological and meteorological data from sensors and sends that data via satellite to the agency's Direct Readout Ground Station (DRGS) in Boise, Idaho. The DRGS is hardwired into the agency's central computer facility. Each remote site platform transmits data consisting of 16 quarter-hour interval readings every 4 hours, as well as whenever the sensors detect significant changes in data. The data are monitored on a real-time basis, providing the basis for various critical operational decisions, such as adjusting reservoir releases to prevent or reduce flooding. The data are also used for statistical analyses, projections, and forecasts. In order to avoid loss of real-time data due to equipment failure, the agency has a back-up system for all components of the hydromet system except for the remote site equipment. Both Sutron and Vitel are incumbent contractors on portions of the maintenance requirements for this system, and have a history of installing and maintaining the system. The RFP requested that offerors propose fixed monthly and unit prices for the maintenance services for a contract for the 1996 fiscal year with 4 option years. The RFP required minimum level of service rates of 95 percent for the DRGS and for all remote sites combined, and 93 percent for each individual remote site. A level of service rate of 95 or 93 percent means that the site or sites can be out of service up to 5 or 7 percent of the time, respectively, and still satisfy the minimum level of service requirements. For example, a 30-day month has 720 (30 x 24) possible service hours. The 164 remote sites combined have 118,080 possible service hours per month. Thus, the maximum hours that a site or sites may be out of service each month are 36 hours for the DRGS (720 x 5 percent), 50.4 hours for each remote site (720 x 7 percent), and 5,904 total for all remote sites (118,080 x 5 percent). The RFP allowed offerors to propose service rates above the minimum requirements and stated that if an offeror proposed a higher level of service than required, that higher level would become the minimum standard of performance under a contract awarded to that offeror. A detailed statement of work was provided, describing the required services. The contractor was required to provide all labor, "regardless of length of time, time of day, day of the week," necessary to perform the contract and to furnish all required hardware and spare parts. Among other things, the contractor would provide all preventative maintenance services for remote hydromet sites and to restore any remote hydromet site to service within 24 hours of notification of a problem. The contractor was also required to provide at least four qualified field maintenance technicians and one qualified back-up maintenance person at all times during the contract period. A best value basis for award was stated.