Mecca Investments, L.L.C., B-277375; B-277375.2, October 8,

Mecca Investments, L.L.C., B-277375; B-277375.2, October 8, BNUMBER: B-277375; B-277375.2 DATE: October 8, 1997 TITLE: Mecca Investments, L.L.C., B-277375; B-277375.2, October 8, 1997 ********************************************************************** Matter of:Mecca Investments, L.L.C. File: B-277375; B-277375.2 Date:October 8, 1997 Lawrence P. Block, Esq., Doyle & Bachman, for the protester. Joel D. Malkin, Esq., General Services Administration, for the agency. Susan K. McAuliffe, Esq., and Christine S. Melody, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Protest that evaluation of offers and agency's subsequent award of a lease for office space were improper because awardee's offer failed to meet material requirements of the solicitation is denied where awardee's offer reasonably was found acceptable and record shows that, even if agency did relax minimum space requirement for awardee, as protester contends, protester was not competitively prejudiced by agency's actions. DECISION Mecca Investments, L.L.C. protests the award of a lease by the General Services Administration (GSA) to ARC Construction under solicitation for offers (SFO) No. GS-05B-16162 for space for Social Security Administration (SSA) offices in Evansville, Indiana. Mecca contends that ARC's offer should have been rejected for failure to comply with material requirements of the SFO regarding public transportation, location/amenities, and minimum occupiable space. We deny the protest. The agency evaluated the acceptability of potential sites in the Evansville area for the SSA office space and issued the SFO to prospective offerors whose sites were deemed acceptable. The factors for consideration in assessing a site's acceptability were set out in the SFO, which provided, among other things, that "[a]dequate public transportation is required to the proposed location." The following property location requirements (for properties located outside of the city center area) were also set out in the SFO: Space must be located in an office, research, technology, or business park that is modern in design with a campus-like atmosphere, or on an attractively landscaped site containing one or more modern office buildings that are professional and prestigious in appearance with surrounding development well-maintained and in consonance with a professional image. . . . Adequate eating facilities are to be located within 2 city blocks and other employee services, such as retail shops, cleaners, banks, etc. should be located within 2 city blocks. The SFO advised offerors that GSA was interested in leasing approximately 10,929 square feet of net rentable space and that the rentable space "must yield a minimum of 9,935 occupiable square feet to a maximum of 10,432 occupiable square feet." The SFO defined "rentable space" as "the area for which a tenant is charged rent" and listed those areas within a proposed building that may or may not be included in the calculation of rentable space. "Occupiable space" was defined in the SFO as: that portion of rentable space that is available for a tenant's personnel, equipment and furnishings and is the method of measurement for the area for which the Government will evaluate offers. Net usable [space] and [occupiable space], for purposes of this solicitation, are identical. The SFO provided that for space on a single tenancy floor, occupiable space was to be determined by computing "the inside gross area by measuring between the inside finish of the permanent exterior building walls," and then deducting, among others, the following areas and their enclosing walls from the gross area: equipment/service areas; corridors in place or required for access or safety; vestibules; and visitor rest rooms. For price evaluation purposes, the SFO provided: Offerors are required to submit plans and any other information to demonstrate that the rentable space yields occupiable space within the required occupiable range. The Government will verify the amount of occupiable square footage and convert the rentable prices offered to occupiable prices, which will subsequently be used in the price evaluation. The SFO provided that an award of the 10-year lease would be made to the responsible offeror whose proposal conformed to the requirements of the SFO and offered the lowest price. Mecca's and ARC's offers were among those submitted in response to the SFO and each proposed to construct a new building on its offered site. Mecca, on its best and final offer's (BAFO) GSA Form 1364 (entitled "proposal to lease space"), offered 10,432 square feet of "net usable" (i.e., occupiable) space at a square foot rate per year of $24.34, for a total amount of $253,914.88.