GTE Hawaiian Telephone Company, Inc., B-276487.2, June 30,

B-276487.2 Jun 30, 1997 Jump To VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Was capable of. Where price is stated to be more important than the technical and management evaluation factors. Was reasonable and in accord with the award evaluation criteria. GTE contends that AT&T's proposal is not compliant with mandatory solicitation requirements and that DISA performed an unreasonable best value analysis in selecting AT&T's lower-rated. The HITS contract will replace the existing Oahu Telephone System. HITS will interface and interoperate with other communication networks. A Functional Requirements Specification (FRS) was provided in the RFP. The contractor is required to provide whatever equipment. Network management are necessary to deliver services in compliance with the FRS requirements. View Decision Matter of: GTE Hawaiian Telephone Company, Inc. File: B-276487.2 Date: June 30, 1997 * REDACTED DECISION DIGEST Attorneys DECISION GTE Hawaiian Telephone Company, Inc. protests the award of a contract to AT&T Corporation under request for proposals (RFP) No. DCA300-96-R-0001, issued by the Defense Information Technology Contracting Organization, Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) for the Hawaii Information Transfer System (HITS). GTE contends that AT&T's proposal is not compliant with mandatory solicitation requirements and that DISA performed an unreasonable best value analysis in selecting AT&T's lower-rated, lower-priced proposal for award. We deny the protest. The RFP provided for the award of a fixed-price, indefinite delivery services contract to provide end-to-end switched voice, switched data, integrated services digital network (ISDN) and dedicated transmission services to Department of Defense users throughout the State of Hawaii for a 10-year contract period. The HITS contract will replace the existing Oahu Telephone System, the Hawaii Area Wideband Systems, and other dedicated transmission service systems, [1] allowing the government to consolidate its telecommunication services under one contract. HITS will interface and interoperate with other communication networks, including the Defense Information System Network, the Government Emergency Telecommunication Service, the Defense Satellite Communication System, FTS2000, and public telephone networks. A Functional Requirements Specification (FRS) was provided in the RFP, which specified the information transfer requirements for HITS, identified the services and features that HITS must provide, and stated performance specifications and network management system requirements. The contractor is required to provide whatever equipment, facilities, and network management are necessary to deliver services in compliance with the FRS requirements. The RFP stated with regard to the configuration of the HITS: "The Contractor shall make maximum use of commercially available off-the-shelf technology and services. The Contractor's system engineering shall maximize configuring HITS from existing off-the-shelf equipment, services, and subsystems and minimize designing new equipment, subsystems, and services. The HITS configuration shall represent the most cost effective and technically efficient solution to meet Government requirements." The RFP also identified the locations for which service was required and the types of service that would be provided at each location (e.g., switched voice service, dedicated transmission service, or all required services). The contractor is required to provide Initial Operational Capability (IOC) within 8 months of contract award. IOC is defined as the point at which the first HITS location and services are operational and accepted by the government. The contractor is also required to provide Full Operational Capability (FOC) within 18 months of contract award. FOC is defined as the point at which all service requirements items and features for all locations have been "cutover" and accepted by the government. Offerors were to provide transition plans to describe their strategy for consolidating existing services into a single communication infrastructure and to satisfy the IOC and FOC schedule requirements. Detailed acceptance testing procedures were also set forth in the RFP; among other things, the contractor was required to plan for pre-cutover and post-cutover testing to demonstrate that all HITS requirements will be satisfied. The RFP provided a best value basis for award and identified the following evaluation criteria: technical quality, management quality, and price. [2] Price was stated to be approximately equal in weight to the combination of the technical and management quality criteria; technical quality was stated to be of greater weight than management quality.