AlliedSignal, Inc.

AlliedSignal, Inc. BNUMBER: B-272290; B-272290.2 DATE: September 13, 1996 TITLE: AlliedSignal, Inc. ********************************************************************** DOCUMENT FOR PUBLIC RELEASE A protected decision was issued on the date below and was subject to a GAO Protective Order. This version has been redacted or approved by the parties involved for public release. Matter of:AlliedSignal, Inc. File: B-272290; B-272290.2 Date:September 13, 1996 James M. McHale, Esq., Trisa J. Thompson, Esq., and Mary Baroody Lowe, Esq., Seyfarth, Shaw, Fairweather & Geraldson, for the protester. Norman A. Steiger, Esq., Goldberg & Connolly, for Miltope Corporation, an intervenor. Major David P. Harney, JAGC, and Dalford R.V. Widner, Esq., Department of the Army, for the agency. Andrew T. Pogany, Esq., and Michael R. Golden, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST 1. Contracting agency is responsible for evaluating the data submitted by an offeror and ascertaining if it provides sufficient information as required by the solicitation to determine the technical conformance or acceptability of the offeror's proposed item; the General Accounting Office will not disturb this technical determination unless it is shown to be unreasonable. 2. Adjectival ratings, like point scores, are used as a guideline for intelligent decision-making by source selection officials; award should not and need not be based solely on these ratings or scores. A selection should reflect the procuring agency's considered judgment of whether significant technical differences exist in the proposals that identify a particular technical proposal as superior regardless of close technical scores or adjectival ratings among proposals. DECISION AlliedSignal, Inc. protests the award of a contract to Miltope Corporation under request for proposals (RFP) No. DAAH01-96-R-0029, issued by the U.S. Army Missile Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, for the Soldier's Portable On-system Repair Tool (SPORT), a portable, electronic, interactive maintenance device to test weapon systems. The protester contends that the agency misevaluated Miltope's technical proposal which allegedly failed to contain sufficiently detailed technical information concerning the proposed weight of a major component of the SPORT, the Controller/Diagnostic Aid (CDA).[1] We deny the protest. The SPORT is comprised of two major components, the CDA and the instrumentation expansion chassis. The CDA, essentially a small computer, operates as a portable maintenance device to access electronic and interactive technical manuals. The expansion chassis augments CDA capability by allowing use of additional bus or instrumentation cards. The CDA is detachable from the expansion chassis and is capable of controlling the expansion chassis. Both the CDA and the chassis are required to be "ruggedized" to withstand the physical environment of forward battle areas. The SPORT will have the capability to test weapon systems, such as the Abrams Tank, Patriot, and Paladin systems, and is the next generation of contact test sets which is an item comprised of commercially available circuit cards packaged into a rugged chassis that is currently in use. The concept for this requirement, the SPORT, is identical--the contractor is expected to integrate and package existing commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components and products to develop, test, and deliver the SPORT. The RFP, issued on October 31, 1995, contemplated a fixed-price, indefinite quantity contract. Section M of the RFP stated that the "end item is the obtaining of commercially available (modified to the minimum extent possible) state-of-the-art technology." The RFP provided that award would be made to the responsible offeror whose proposal was determined to offer the best value to the government, price and other factors considered, and that award could be made to other than the lowest-evaluated offeror. The RFP stated that three areas would be evaluated: technical, performance risk (with possible ratings of high, moderate, and low risk), and price.