Canberra Industries, Inc.

B-271016 Jun 05, 1996 Jump To VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Protest that agency improperly relaxed requirement regarding performance certifications is denied where there is no showing that the protester was prejudiced by the agency's actions. Is the result of a minor modification which does not change the product's physical characteristics or function. Which is weapons grade highly enriched uranium or plutonium. Section C.3 of the RFP stated: "Proposals shall be deemed non-responsive if each of the following performance specifications is not addressed in the technical proposal. General statements such as 'monitor meets or exceeds all performance specifications' will not suffice.". Section C.4 of the RFP listed 15 performance specifications which proposals were required to address. View Decision Matter of: Canberra Industries, Inc. File: B-271016 Date: June 5, 1996 Protest that agency improperly relaxed requirement regarding performance certifications is denied where there is no showing that the protester was prejudiced by the agency's actions. Agency properly accepted awardee's certification that its proposed pedestrian radiation detector complied with the solicitation's commercial item requirement where the product has been sold to the general public and the modified product offered, based on newer software, is the result of a minor modification which does not change the product's physical characteristics or function. Attorneys DECISION Canberra Industries, Inc. protests the award of a contract to Rados Technology, Inc. under request for proposals (RFP) No. DNA001-95-R-0045, issued by the Defense Nuclear Agency (DNA) for pedestrian radiation detection equipment. Canberra asserts that Rados did not submit product certifications or offer a commercial product as required by the solicitation. We deny the protest. The RFP contemplated the award of a fixed-price contract to the lowest- priced, technically acceptable offeror for 48 pedestrian radiation detectors [1] capable of detecting special nuclear material (SNM), which is weapons grade highly enriched uranium or plutonium. Section C.3 of the RFP stated: "Proposals shall be deemed non-responsive if each of the following performance specifications is not addressed in the technical proposal. General statements such as 'monitor meets or exceeds all performance specifications' will not suffice." Section C.4 of the RFP listed 15 performance specifications which proposals were required to address. Specifically, this RFP section provided that the proposed monitor "must be certified" as capable of detecting a specified amount of Cesium in a particular background radiation environment in at least 15 out of 20 passages when the source moves horizontally through the center of the portal at a speed of approximately 3.3 feet per second, and at all vertical positions from floor level to 84 inches above floor level. Similarly, RFP section C.4 provided that the contractor "shall certify" that the nuisance alarm rate of the proposed monitor "is less than 1 nuisance alarm in 1000 passages." With regard to these requirements, the RFP stated that the "[c]ontractor shall provide complete details as to the testing method" used to verify the detection sensitivity and the nuisance alarm rate. The solicitation also included the clause found at Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS), Sec. 252.211-7012, "Certifications-Commercial Items," which provides that "[o]ffers received in response to this solicitation that do not offer commercial items shall not be considered for award." [2] Pursuant to that clause, offerors were required by the solicitation to certify whether the items proposed were commercial items, defined by the clause as follows: "(b)(1) 'Commercial items' means items regularly used in the course of normal business operations for other than Government purposes which: (i) have been sold or licensed to the general public; (ii) have not been sold or licensed, but have been offered for sale or license to the general public; (iii) are not yet available in the commercial marketplace, but will be available for commercial delivery in a reasonable period of time: (iv) are described in paragraphs (i), (ii), or (iii) that would require only minor modification in order to meet the requirements of the procuring agency. (2) 'Minor modification' means a modification to a commercial item that does not alter the commercial item's function or essential physical characteristics." Initial proposals were received from six offerors, including Canberra and Rados. Canberra offered its JPM-21A pedestrian monitor and submitted preliminary testing information and results. Rados offered its RTM-950 gamma portal monitor.