T3 Corporation, B-276535, June 27, 1997

B-276535 Jun 27, 1997 Jump To VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights DIGEST Protest that contracting agency's offering of requirement to Small Business Administration for acceptance into 8(a) program on sole source basis was improper because agency failed to identify protester as interested firm is denied where contracting agency took reasonable steps to identify and solicit 8(a) vendors with appropriate expertise and was not made aware of protester's alleged interest in the procurement. The work required under this solicitation was broadly described as providing services to convert ATF's documents to microfilm and prepare an automated index. The primary document types were defined in the statement of work (SOW) as "(1) records of the acquisition and disposition of firearms by dealers no longer in business and (2) other documents for which microfilming would either save space or make the information more readily available for use.". View Decision Matter of: T3 Corporation File: B-276535 Date: June 27, 1997 DIGEST Attorneys DECISION T3 Corporation protests the award of a sole source subcontract to KBM Group under request for proposals (RFP) No. BATF-97-1, issued by the Department of the Treasury, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) under section 8(a) of the Small Business Act, 15 U.S.C. Sec. 637(a) (1994). [1] The protester asserts that ATF did not report T3's interest in the procurement to the SBA and did not properly estimate the value of the subcontract. T3 also complains that the agency failed to report changed requirements and a revised estimate of the subcontract's value to the SBA. We deny the protest. The work required under this solicitation was broadly described as providing services to convert ATF's documents to microfilm and prepare an automated index. The primary document types were defined in the statement of work (SOW) as "(1) records of the acquisition and disposition of firearms by dealers no longer in business and (2) other documents for which microfilming would either save space or make the information more readily available for use." Several examples of "other documents" were listed, including firearm transaction records, suspect guns reports, interstate theft forms, federally licensed firearms theft forms and other ATF firearms or nonfirearms related documents. Prior to this procurement, Digicon Corporation, another 8(a) firm, had performed the microfilming and information retrieval services on the serial numbers of firearms from licensees who had discontinued business and on firearms used in violent crimes. In September 1996, ATF determined that only $300,000 remained for the final option period under Digicon's subcontract. Because these funds were insufficient to complete the anticipated work and would be depleted by November 15 and because the agency could not permit disruption of performance, it sought to increase the subcontract ceiling by $2.3 million. [2] ATF was informed by the SBA that further increases or extensions would be outside the scope of the subcontract and that Digicon had graduated from the 8(a) program. To provide it sufficient time to develop an updated solicitation for a multi-year 8(a) subcontract and to prevent a lapse in performance, ATF decided to award an interim 1-year contract and began the process of obtaining another subcontractor under the SBA's 8(a) program. ATF's Small Business Specialist (SBS) provided contracting personnel with the names of three 8(a) vendors with expertise in data retrieval services. The SBS had used her library and SBA's Procurement Automated Source System (PASS) to obtain the names of qualified vendors. T3 was not included on the PASS list, however, and its name was not one of the three provided to the contracting personnel. The SBS also provided the data retrieval/microfilming requirement information to vendors attending monthly Treasury Department outreach sessions and suggested they contact ATF if they were interested in the procurement; none of those vendors, however, contacted the agency to express interest in the procurement. Contracting officials then invited the three firms identified by the SBS to attend a National Gun Tracing Center site visit, but KBM Group was the only vendor to accept that invitation and attend the site visit. Because of KBM's favorable past performance providing similar services and because of severe time constraints, ATF decided to nominate KBM to the SBA for award. By letter dated October 7, 1996, ATF nominated KBM to the SBA for a 1-year subcontract whose value was estimated at $2.8 million. This estimate included the remaining $300,000 in contract funds, the $2.3 million increase ATF had previously requested and an additional $200,000 because KBM, which is not a West Virginia firm, would have to maintain an on-site administrator and other on-site personnel. On October 23, ATF received SBA's acceptance letter of KBM.