Makro Janitorial Services, Inc., B-282690, August 18, 1999

B-282690 Aug 18, 1999 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights A firm protested an Army task order for housekeeping services, contending that the: (1) Army improperly issued the task order in lieu of competing the procurement; and (2) modification exceeded the scope of the contract. GAO held that the task order exceeded the scope of the contract, since housekeeping services were not contemplated under the original contract. Accordingly, the protest was sustained, and GAO recommended that the Army: (1) terminate the task order for the three locations that procure housekeeping services in accordance with the competition requirements of the Competition in Contracting Act; and (2) reimburse the protester for its protest costs. View Decision Matter of: Makro Janitorial Services, Inc. File: B-282690 Date: August 18, 1999 DIGEST Attorneys DECISION Makro Janitorial Services, Inc. protests the Department of the Army's failure to compete the procurement of housekeeping services for locations at the Kimbrough Ambulatory Care Center (Ft. Meade), Aberdeen Proving Grounds, and Edgewood Arsenal, Maryland. The agency issued task order No. 0084 for these housekeeping services to BMAR and Associates, Inc. under contract No. DACA01-96-D-0023, which was for preventive maintenance and equipment inventories at medical facilities in the continental United States, Caribbean, Alaska, and Hawaii. Contracting Officer's (CO) Statement at 1. The BMAR contract was modified in 1997 to include housekeeping and exterior grounds maintenance services. BMAR Contract at C-7-1 to C-7-5. Macro contends that the issuance of the task order in lieu of competing the procurement was improper and resulted in prices higher than those that would have been obtained through competition. Protester's Comments at 8-10. We sustain the protest. /1/ An indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract was competitively awarded by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Mobile District Contracting Division, to BMAR on May 2, 1996, for a base year with four 1-year option periods at a total not-to-exceed value of $27,500,000. The work would be accomplished through fixed-priced task orders. CO Statement at 1-2. Under the contract, BMAR would supply all plant, labor, materials, and equipment in performing "Real Property Inventory (RPI), Demand Maintenance Repairs, and surveys of Medical Facilities." BMAR Contract Sec. C-1.1.1. As noted, the contract was modified subsequently to include housekeeping and exterior grounds maintenance services. As relevant here, the contract modification defines "Housekeeping Services" as "all labor and materials to maintain the cleanliness of all medical facility spaces." Id. Sec. 2.1.3.1. The cleaning services include damp wiping and dusting, spot cleaning of surfaces, vacuuming, and cleaning plumbing fixtures, windows, beds and linens. The BMAR contract was awarded as part of the U.S. Army Medical Command's program to ensure that its hospitals, clinics, and other facilities would meet the standards of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organization standards by means of a collection (toolbox) of contracts that would be available to the facility manager at each medical facility. CO Statement at 1. The agency notes that the procurement was described in the Commerce Business Daily under Code M, operation of government-owned facilities, and that in paragraph 1.03 of the solicitation/contract it was stated that the covered work previously was done in-house (that is, some of the larger installations performed their own housekeeping). Further, in solicitation/contract paragraph 2.1.1, "Maintenance" is defined as that which keeps real property in such a condition as to be usable continuously for its intended purpose. The agency asserts that housekeeping is necessary to keep the facilities functional. The agency argues that since the intended purpose of the contract was for the successful operation of the facilities, the 1997 modification was merely a clarification of the original requirements under BMAR's contract, rather than a change that was outside the scope of the original contract. Agency's Supplemental Comments at 1-2. The Competition in Contracting Act of 1984 (CICA) requires "full and open competition" in government procurements as obtained through the use of competitive procedures. 10 U.S.C. Sec. 2304(a)(1)(A) (1994). Once a contract is awarded, however, our Office will generally not review modifications to that contract, because such matters are related to contract administration and are beyond the scope of our bid protest function. 4 C.F.R. Sec. 21.5(a); Stoehner Sec. Servs., Inc., B-248077.3, Oct. 27, 1992, 92-2 CPD Para. 285 at 4.