PeopleSoft USA, Inc., B-283497, November 30, 1999

B-283497 Nov 30, 1999 Jump To VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights The fact that certain of the functionality required by the solicitation was not yet available. The agency's requirements were spelled out in great detail in section J of the LOI. Which included extensive narrative descriptions of some 580 functional and technical requirements. /2/ The solicitation further provided that the functional and technical considerations were significantly more important than price. Each of the 580 functional and technical requirements were designated as either "mandatory. These requirements were specified as either Peace Corps specific. PeopleSoft further represented that its version 7.5 software was scheduled for release in the summer 1999 timeframe. To the extent that PeopleSoft was proposing to meet the federal functionality called for under the solicitation. View Decision Matter of: PeopleSoft USA, Inc. File: B-283497 Date: November 30, 1999 DIGEST Attorneys DECISION PeopleSoft USA, Inc. protests the elimination of its proposal from the competitive range under letter of interest (LOI) No. PCORPS-99-R-1023, issued by the Peace Corps for financial management software. PeopleSoft asserts that the agency improperly failed to conduct meaningful discussions with it before eliminating its proposal from further consideration. /1/ We deny the protest. The LOI sought information for purposes of issuing a master delivery order under one of the eligible vendors' Financial Management Systems Software multiple award schedule (FMSS MAS) contracts to provide financial management software. The agency's requirements were spelled out in great detail in section J of the LOI, which included extensive narrative descriptions of some 580 functional and technical requirements. /2/ The solicitation further provided that the functional and technical considerations were significantly more important than price. LOI Sec. M.1. Each of the 580 functional and technical requirements were designated as either "mandatory," "critical" or "desirable," LOI Sec. J, at v, and these requirements were specified as either Peace Corps specific, or as arising from Joint Financial Management Improvement Program (JFMIP) requirements. /3/ LOI Sec. J. In response to the solicitation, the Peace Corps received several offers, including the protester's. The evaluators rated all proposals except the protester's as "more than satisfactory," and rated the protester's proposal "satisfactory." Agency Report at 187. /4/ PeopleSoft offered an as yet unreleased version of its software (version 7.5) and supported its proposal with literature relating to the previous version (version 7.0) as well as "pre release notices" prepared for version 7.5. Protest at 4 & n.3. PeopleSoft further represented that its version 7.5 software was scheduled for release in the summer 1999 timeframe. PeopleSoft Proposal, Pre-release Notes, at 2. The evaluators specifically found that, to the extent that PeopleSoft was proposing to meet the federal functionality called for under the solicitation, it had done so only by offering the version 7.5 of its software that had not yet been released. Agency Report at 195. The evaluators also were concerned that PeopleSoft's proposed software used "non-federal" terminology (essentially because it had been developed for non-federal users), and that this problem required satisfactory resolution in order to meet the agency's needs. Id. at 157. Finally, the evaluators were concerned about an exception in PeopleSoft's proposal, id. at 125, which stated: Future Functionality Where PeopleSoft has described features or functionality that it anticipates will be included in future releases of the applications, PeopleSoft is not making a contractual offer to provide the features or functionality. Descriptions of future features or functionality and estimates of their availability represent PeopleSoft's good faith estimates. PeopleSoft does not make contractual commitments regarding timing or delivery of features or functionality that are not currently available. PeopleSoft ascribes no value to such features or functionality, as it is not committing to delivering them. The Peace Corps' evaluators should understand that their selection of PeopleSoft as their software vendor should rely on the functionality provided today in the software. PeopleSoft Initial Proposal at 10-1. The agency then engaged in discussions with PeopleSoft and the other offerors. As for the protester, the agency's discussion questions focused on the issues identified above, namely, the progress PeopleSoft was making in terms of releasing version 7.5 of its software (as well as how the firm would handle bugs in the new release) and the firm's proposed solution to the lack of federal terminology. Agency Report at 157.