YKK (U.S.A.), Inc., B-280447, August 28, 1998

B-280447 Aug 28, 1998 Jump To VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Protester's contention that the agency improperly evaluated awardee's past performance is denied where the record shows that the agency evaluated in accordance with the criteria announced in the solicitation. Whether an offeror can or will supply domestic products in accordance with the terms of a solicitation concerns a matter of responsibility which General Accounting Office generally will not review absent a showing of possible bad faith. Or that definitive responsibility criteria may not have been met. The RFP was issued on March 19. The zippers identified by CLINs 0001-0009 were to be delivered to Fort Dix. Those identified by CLINs 0010-0012 were to be delivered to UNICOR Federal Prison Camp in Alderson. View Decision Matter of: YKK (U.S.A.), Inc. File: B-280447 Date: August 28, 1998 DIGEST Attorneys DECISION YKK (U.S.A.), Inc. protests the award of a contract to Pacific Contract Management (PCM) under request for proposals (RFP) No. 1PI-R-1005-98, issued by the Department of Justice, Federal Prison Industries (UNICOR), for various quantities of zippers. YKK contends that the agency improperly failed to evaluate PCM's proposal in accordance with the evaluation criteria announced in the RFP. YKK also argues that PCM intends to furnish a non-domestic item in violation of the solicitation. We deny the protest. The RFP was issued on March 19, 1998 to 13 potential offerors and contemplated the award of a fixed-price, indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity requirements contract for a base year and up to two 1-year option periods. Section B of the RFP listed 36 contract line item numbers (CLIN) describing the various zipper requirements and estimated quantities for each CLIN for the base (CLINs 0001-0012) and option periods (CLINs 0013-0036). For the base period, the zippers identified by CLINs 0001-0009 were to be delivered to Fort Dix, New Jersey, and those identified by CLINs 0010-0012 were to be delivered to UNICOR Federal Prison Camp in Alderson, West Virginia. RFP Sec. B. Offerors were required to submit unit and extended prices for each CLIN for the base and option periods. The RFP listed past performance (worth 50 points) and the offeror's reputation for compliance with specification requirements and adherence to the statement of work (25 points) as evaluation criteria. RFP Amendment No. 0003 at 3. The RFP instructed offerors to provide information on "recent and relevant contracts for the same or similar items and other references (including contract numbers, points of contact with telephone numbers and other relevant information)" to permit the agency to evaluate the offerors' past performance. RFP Sec. 52.212-1. As for price, the lowest-priced proposal was to receive the maximum number of points available (25) and higher-priced proposals were to receive proportionately lower scores. RFP Amendment No. 0003 at 2, 3. Award was to be made to the offeror whose proposal represented the "best overall expected value" and was deemed most advantageous to the government based on the evaluation criteria specified in the solicitation. Id. at 2. The RFP also permitted the agency to make multiple awards if that would result in the lowest aggregate cost to the government. RFP Amendment No. 0002 at 2. The agency received initial proposals from three firms, including YKK and PCM, conducted written discussions, and requested final revised proposals from all three. The contracting officer evaluated proposals and eliminated one as unacceptable, leaving YKK's and PCM's proposals in the competition. The contracting officer evaluated YKK's and PCM's past performance by contacting three references for each offeror. Based on the responses received, he assigned both firms' proposals overall ratings of 40 points under this evaluation factor. The contracting officer also assigned both firms the maximum number of points under the second factor relating to the offeror's reputation for compliance with specifications factor. Thus, both firms' proposals received identical ratings (65 points) in the technical area. As for price, the contracting officer determined that, including the base and option periods, as provided in the RFP, PCM offered the lowest overall price and assigned that firm's proposal the maximum number of points available (25); YKK's slightly higher overall price earned 24.8 points. Upon closer evaluation, however, the contracting officer determined that PCM offered the lowest total price for CLINs 0001-0009 (Fort Dix), while YKK offered the lowest total price for CLINs 0010-0012 (Alderson). Accordingly, the contracting officer determined that it was in the best interest of the government to award a contract to PCM for CLINs 0001-0009, and a contract to YKK for CLINs 0010-0012.