Aalco Forwarding, Inc., et al., B-277241.12; B-277241.13,

Aalco Forwarding, Inc., et al., B-277241.12; B-277241.13, BNUMBER: B-277241.12; B-277241.13 DATE: December 29, 1997 TITLE: Aalco Forwarding, Inc., et al., B-277241.12; B-277241.13, December 29, 1997 ********************************************************************** Matter of:Aalco Forwarding, Inc., et al. File: B-277241.12; B-277241.13 Date:December 29, 1997 Alan F. Wohlstetter, Esq., and Stanley I. Goldman, Esq., Denning & Wohlstetter; James M. McHale, Esq., Seyfarth, Shaw, Fairweather & Geraldson; Thomas M. Auchincloss, Jr., Esq., Leo C. Franey, Esq., and Brian L. Troiano, Esq., Rea, Cross & Auchincloss, for the protesters. Thomas J. Duffy, Esq., Maj. Jonathan C. Guden, and Ramon Morales, Esq., Department of the Army, for the agency. David R. Kohler, Esq., and Timothy C. Treanor, Esq., for the United States Small Business Administration. Adam Vodraska, Esq., and James A. Spangenberg, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST In a solicitation implementing a pilot program to reengineer the Department of Defense's current program for the shipment and storage of the personal property of military service members and civilian employees, challenged requirements that each offeror serve all points in a traffic channel and that each offeror provide both household goods and unaccompanied baggage transportation services do not constitute improper bundling of requirements, where they reasonably reflect the agency's needs and are necessary to implement the pilot program's goals of reducing administrative burdens on the agency and improving the reliability and quality of service. DECISION Aalco Forwarding, Inc. and 96 other self-certified small business concerns protest the terms of request for proposals (RFP) No. DAMT01-97-R-3001, issued by the Military Traffic Management Command (MTMC), Department of the Army, for all personnel, equipment, materials, supervision, and other items necessary to provide transportation and transportation-related services for 50 percent of the eligible Department of Defense (DOD) and United States Coast Guard-sponsored personal property shipments from North Carolina, South Carolina, and Florida, to any or all of 13 destination regions in the continental United States (CONUS) and/or any or all of 5 destination regions in Europe.[1] The solicitation implements a pilot program to reengineer DOD's current program for shipping and storing the personal property of its military service members and civilian employees. In these protests, the protesters contend that the RFP unnecessarily bundles certain contract requirements to the detriment of small business concerns. The protests are denied. This procurement was the subject of a prior decision in Aalco Forwarding, Inc., et al., B-277241.8, B-277241.9, Oct. 21, 1997, 97-2 CPD para. 110, which denied various protests primarily against the acquisition of these services under Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) part 12 commercial item procedures. That decision contains much of the background for this procurement, which will not be repeated here. As described in our earlier decision, the current program is administratively burdensome for MTMC. Currently, a DOD shipping office (which covers shipments from a relatively small area) may have to contact several carriers on its traffic distribution roster before finding a carrier willing to accept a shipment, and each move involves significant amounts of paperwork. MTMC reports that resource constraints at its shipping offices have reduced the functions those offices customarily perform (such as movement counseling and quality control monitoring). Because of these resource constraints, as well as problems experienced with the quality of services provided by moving companies, MTMC reports that it cannot continue to do business under the current program and that it must find a streamlined, efficient way to move its personnel while ensuring high quality moves. Reflecting these concerns, the reengineering effort aims to improve the quality of personal property shipment and storage services provided to DOD, and to simplify the administration of the program so as to be able to focus more of the resources of the shipping offices towards customer service and away from the administrative burdens associated with the current program. Various congressional committees agreed that MTMC must pursue a higher level of service from the moving industry with greater reliance on commercial standards of service and business practices.[2] MTMC's market research and benchmarking survey revealed that large commercial shippers and other organizations had successfully reengineered their employee relocation programs to obtain superior service, reduce administrative burdens, and adopt better business practices.