Analytical & Research Technology, Inc., B-276064, May 7, 1997

B-276064 May 07, 1997 Jump To VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights DIGEST Agency did not conduct misleading discussions where the protester unreasonably interpreted agency's explanation regarding staffing requirements as permitting an approach that was inconsistent with the solicitation requirements. The RFP provided that offerors were permitted to propose any mix of labor categories to perform the required tasks provided that the proposed individuals "have the requisite years of experience in each of the skill areas listed below for the labor category for which they are proposed.". The skill areas were as follows: "Skill Area # 1- Experience in UNIX operating systems software design. The skill areas required by the RFP for each of the proposed labor categories were as follows: Proposed Labor Category Skill Area(s) Systems Analyst 1. View Decision Matter of: Analytical & Research Technology, Inc. File: B-276064 Date: May 7, 1997 * Redacted Decision DIGEST Attorneys DECISION Analytical & Research Technology, Inc. (ART) protests the Department of the Army's proposed award of a contract to J.G. Van Dyke & Associates, Inc. to provide computer network integration and automated data processing (ADP) operations support for the National Ground Intelligence Center (NGIC) under request for proposals (RFP) No. DAHC90-95-R-0036. ART contends that the Army conducted misleading discussions with ART. We deny the protest. The RFP contemplates the award of a labor hours contract for a base year with four 1-year option periods to provide the NGIC with routine ADP technical assistance and hardware maintenance, installation and deinstallation of ADP support. The RFP provided that offerors were permitted to propose any mix of labor categories to perform the required tasks provided that the proposed individuals "have the requisite years of experience in each of the skill areas listed below for the labor category for which they are proposed." (Emphasis added.) The skill areas were as follows: "Skill Area # 1- Experience in UNIX operating systems software design, development and configuration management and specific experience in Solaris 1.X and 2.X. "Skill Area # 2- Experience in Client-Server Relational Databases and Software Applications and specific experience in Sybase, Progress, and Oracle. "Skill Area # 3- Experience in Imagery Exploitation Software Applications and specific experience in DIEPS. "Skill Area # 4- Experience in Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), TCP/IP, Cisco and Newbridge Routers and Network Management Software Applications and specific experience in Wollongon Pathway. "Skill Area # 5- Experience in DEC OSF/1, installation, utilities, configuration and specific experience in MIS, NFS, and C2. "Skill Area # 6- Experience in Hardware/Software Configuration Management and Software Applications and specific experience in Autocad, Netcensus, Progress, Oracle, Applix-ware, and Wordperfect for UNIX, cc:mail for UNIX. "Skill Area # 7- Experience in ADP systems operations and specific experience in UNIX/Novell Fileservers, IBM/VM Mainframe, Network Management Systems, Communications Security (COMSEC). "Skill Area # 8- Experience in MAC OS and Electronic Publishing Software Applications and specific experience in MOSAIC, Web Servers, Framemaker, QUARK, UNIX CorelDraw. "Skill Area # 9- Experience in Computer Security Support, Computer Trusted Systems and Accreditations." The skill areas required by the RFP for each of the proposed labor categories were as follows: Proposed Labor Category Skill Area(s) Systems Analyst 1, 2, and 3 Computer Specialist 1, 2, 3, 5, and 8 Communications Technician 4 Communications Engineer 1, 4, 7 Systems Administrator 1, 2, 4 Configuration Management Specialist 6 Computer Security Analyst 9 Computer Shift Operator 7 The RFP provided that award would be made to the responsible offeror whose proposal represented the best value to the government, taking into consideration price and technical quality, with the technical factors being more important than price. The RFP listed the following technical factors, in descending order of importance: (1) technical skills, qualifications, and experience-personnel, (2) technical skills, qualifications, and experience-corporate, (3) technical approach, and (4) cost. On May 30, 1996, the agency received initial proposals from four offerors. Each proposal included a labor category matrix for key personnel and corresponding resumes for individuals proposed to comply with the RFP's experience requirements. ART's labor category matrix for its proposed key personnel indicated that ART interpreted the RFP as requiring that an individual proposed for a particular labor category had to be qualified in all of the skill areas and the applicable subskill areas listed for that particular labor category.