Microcosm, Inc., B-277326; B-277326.2; B-277326.3; B-

Microcosm, Inc., B-277326; B-277326.2; B-277326.3; B- BNUMBER: B-277326; B-277326.2; B-277326.3; B-277326.4; B-277326.5 DATE: September 30, 1997 TITLE: Microcosm, Inc., B-277326; B-277326.2; B-277326.3; B- 277326.4; B-277326.5, September 30, 1997 ********************************************************************** DOCUMENT FOR PUBLIC RELEASE The decision issued on the date below was subject to a GAO Protective Order. This redacted version has been approved for public release. Matter of:Microcosm, Inc. File: B-277326; B-277326.2; B-277326.3; B-277326.4; B-277326.5 Date:September 30, 1997 Alfred J. Verdi, Esq., for the protester. Timothy A. Harness, for Summa Technology, Inc., and John R. Grady, for Universal Space Lines, the intervenors. Vincent A. Salgado, Esq., and Louis R. Durnya, Esq., National Aeronautics & Space Administration, for the agency. Christina Sklarew, Esq., and Paul Lieberman, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Where protester's proposal under broad agency announcement failed to include sufficient technical information to establish viability of proposed research, agency reasonably determined that technical success was improbable and properly determined not to fund proposal. DECISION Microcosm, Inc. protests the National Aeronautics & Space Administration's (NASA) evaluation and rejection of its proposal under NASA research announcement (NRA) 8-19, issued for low-cost earth-to-orbit transportation systems research proposals. Microcosm alleges that NASA failed to evaluate the protester's proposal fairly, failed to communicate with the protester regarding certain aspects of its proposal, relaxed certain of the NRA requirements for the awardees, and used competitive procurement evaluation procedures which were not appropriate for NRAs. We deny the protest. This procurement was conducted under NASA's Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) authority contained in NASA Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (NFARS) sec. 1835.016-70. A BAA is a contracting method by which government agencies can acquire basic and applied research. BAAs may be used by agencies to fulfill requirements for scientific study and experimentation directed toward advancing the state of the art or increasing knowledge or understanding rather than focusing on a specific system or hardware solution. A BAA is considered a competitive procedure and meets the requirements for full and open competition if it is general in nature, identifying areas of research interest including criteria for selecting proposals; solicits the participation of offerors capable of satisfying the government's needs; and provides for peer or scientific review. Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) sec. 6.102(d)(2). Unlike sealed bidding and other negotiated procurement methods, a BAA does not contain a specific statement of work and no formal solicitation is issued. In addition, the issuing agency is under no obligation to award any contracts and there is no common due date for proposals. Instead, the agency identifies a broad area of interest within which research may benefit the government and publishes its desire to contract for such research. Private organizations are then invited to submit their ideas within a certain period of time. The offerors who submit proposals are not competing against each other but rather are attempting to demonstrate that their proposed research meets the agency's requirements. The agency may decide to fund those efforts and award contracts to those offerors who submit ideas which the agency finds suitable. See FAR sec. 35.016. The BAA at issue is under NASA's Bantam System Technology Project, the first phase of which was conducted under NRA 8-15, which focused on other aspects of the project such as developing and demonstrating, in ground tests, low cost components for propulsion systems, adapting commercial manufacturing practices, utilizing commercial off-the-shelf hardware, and other similar requirements. This NRA, for Phase II, is intended to continue the technology maturation process by demonstrating low recurring-cost technologies with a focus on flight demonstrations.[1] NRA 8-19, in relevant part, solicited proposals for innovative technology development and flight demonstration to enable significant cost reduction in transporting small payloads to low earth orbit. The NRA expressed NASA's goal for a new Bantam transportation system of delivering small payloads (150 kilograms) to low earth orbit (200 nautical miles sun synchronous) for a recurring price of $1.5 million beginning in 2001. The Bantam System Technology Project was divided into two proposal cycles.