Matter of:Allied Signal, Inc., Electronic Systems

Matter of:Allied Signal, Inc., Electronic Systems BNUMBER: B-275032; B-275032.2 DATE: January 17, 1997 TITLE: Matter of:Allied Signal, Inc., Electronic Systems ********************************************************************** 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:Allied Signal, Inc., Electronic Systems File: B-275032; B-275032.2 Date:January 17, 1997 William A. Roberts III, Esq., Lee P. Curtis, Esq., Harvey G. Sherzer, Esq., Jerone C. Cecelic, Esq., Richard P. Castiglia Jr., Esq., Howrey & Simon, for the protester. Thomas C. Papson, Esq., Ian T. Graham, Esq., and Alan Brown, Esq., McKenna & Cuneo, for Hughes Aircraft Company, an intervenor. Joshua A. Kranzberg, Esq., and Thomas D. Carroll, Esq., Department of the Army, for the agency. John Van Schaik, Esq., and Michael R. Golden, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Solicitation for tactical intelligence terminals and modules is ambiguous where protester and awardee both have reasonable interpretations of a requirement that the proposed modules must be backward compatible with two existing intelligence terminals. DECISION Allied Signal, Inc., Electronic Systems protests the award of a contract to Hughes Aircraft Company under request for proposals (RFP) No. DAAB07-96-R-S998, issued by the United States Army Communications-Electronics Command (CECOM) for the Joint Tactical Terminal/Common Integrated Broadcast Service Modules (JTT/CIBS-M), which is to provide war fighters with tactical intelligence and targeting information. Allied argues that the Army waived a mandatory requirement of the solicitation for Hughes. We sustain the protest. BACKGROUND The military services use numerous types of terminals, or radios, to transmit and receive critical intelligence and targeting information for military operations. Some of the intelligence terminals fielded by the Department of Defense (DOD) include: Commanders' Tactical Terminal (CTT), Multi-Mission Advanced Tactical Terminal (MATT), Tactical Receive Equipment (TRE), Synthesized UHF Computer Controlled Equipment Sub-System (SUCCESS), Tactical Information Broadcast Service (TIBS) Interface Unit (TIU), and Quad Net Radio and Joint Communications Interface Terminal (JCIT). Due to Congressional and agency-level concern, DOD is attempting to move to a single family of intelligence terminals and modules (circuit cards and software programs) for transmitting and receiving critical intelligence and targeting information for military operations and a single broadcast architecture, the Integrated Broadcast Service (IBS), for intelligence dissemination. As part of this effort, DOD officials drafted the Joint Operational Requirements Document (JORD) which sets forth the minimum required capabilities for the JTT/CIBS-M and user needs and/or potential improvements above the required capabilities. The JTT/CIBS-M contract also is part of this effort to move to a single family of intelligence terminals and modules. The JTT/CIBS-M solicitation contemplated a fixed-price production contract for an initial version of a terminal that receives intelligence and targeting information (JTT-R), a terminal that transmits and receives intelligence and targeting information (JTT-T/R) and production of hardware and software modules (CIBS-M) that can be packaged as a stand-alone JTT terminal or integrated into other terminals in accordance with user requirements. The RFP states that additional configurations of CIBS-M modules and JTT terminals are to be developed through contractual pre-planned product improvements (P3I) which will incorporate additional program requirements from the JORD. The basic requirement for the first contract year includes JTT terminals (but no CIBS-M modules), warranties, services and data. There are also 9 option years in which additional quantities of JTT terminals, CIBS-M modules, and warranties and services can be purchased. The solicitation includes a performance based "System Specification" which the offerors were to modify to reflect the characteristics and performance capabilities of the items they offered. This procurement was not a "build to print" production effort, but rather allowed offerors to integrate existing designs with evolving technology in order to meet the performance requirements set forth in the system specification. Under the heading "MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS," the RFP listed five requirements which were to be "[t]he ONLY requirements set forth in this solicitation which are considered by the Government to be minimum requirements which MUST be satisfied. . .