WinStar Federal Services, B-284617; B-284617.2; B-284617.3, May 17, 2000

WinStar Federal Services, B-284617; B-284617.2; B-284617.3, May 17, 2000 TITLE: WinStar Federal Services, B-284617; B-284617.2; B-284617.3, May 17, 2000 BNUMBER: B-284617; B-284617.2; B-284617.3 DATE: May 17, 2000 ********************************************************************** WinStar Federal Services, B-284617; B-284617.2; B-284617.3, May 17, 2000 Decision Matter of: WinStar Federal Services File: B-284617; B-284617.2; B-284617.3 Date: May 17, 2000 Christopher R. Yukins, Esq., Frank K. Peterson, Esq., and David S. Black, Esq., Holland & Knight, for the protester. Marcia G. Madsen, Esq., David F. Dowd, Esq., Michael J. Farley, Esq., and Lisanne S. Cottington, Esq., Miller & Chevalier, for Bell Atlantic Federal Integrated Solutions, Inc., an intervenor. Michelle Harrell, Esq., Michael Ettner, Esq., and Lydia Kupersmith, Esq., General Services Administration, for the agency. Glenn G. Wolcott, Esq., and Paul E. Jordan, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST 1. Proposal for telecommunication services at prices below those in existing tariffs was not improper where solicitation provided that awardee was required to file necessary revisions to existing tariffs within a specified period of time after award, and awardee's final proposal committed to submit all required tariff filings. 2. In fixed-price contract to provide telecommunication services in the National Capital Region where solicitation stated that agency would perform price analysis to ensure that prices were fair, reasonable and realistic, agency's price analysis was reasonable where it considered the overall balance of proposed prices, the recent downward price trends in the telecommunications industry, and the prices recently obtained under similar contracts. 3. Discussions were adequate where agency led protester into the areas of its price proposal that warranted amplification or clarification; agency was not obligated to afford protester all-encompassing discussions regarding each item of its proposal that could be improved. 4. Where agency reasonably determined, based on a comprehensive review of protester's and awardee's evaluated strengths and weaknesses, that, notwithstanding protester's slightly higher rating, the proposals were essentially equal, agency properly considered evaluated price as the basis for making its best value determination. DECISION WinStar Federal Services protests the General Services Administration's (GSA) award of a contract to Bell Atlantic Federal Integrated Solutions, Inc. (BAFIS) under request for proposals (RFP) No. WTT–98-PW-N-0001 for local telecommunication services to federal users in the National Capital Region. WinStar protests that the terms of BAFIS's proposal were inconsistent with the terms of existing tariffs; that the agency failed to perform an adequate price realism analysis; that the agency failed to conduct meaningful discussions; and that the agency failed to perform a cost/technical tradeoff. We deny the protest. BACKGROUND On August 7, 1998, the agency issued the solicitation for this procurement, which contemplated award of an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity fixed-price contract for a 4-year base period and four 1-year option periods. The contract is a follow-on to a contract, generally referred to as the Washington Interagency Telecommunications System (WITS) contract, that was awarded to Bell Atlantic (then the Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company) in 1989. The current procurement, referred to as WITS2001, expands the scope of the prior contract, requiring the contractor to provide authorized users with all services that are commercially available in the National Capital Region. [1] Section C of the solicitation divided the contract requirements into eight categories of services and features: switched voice service (SVS); circuit switched data service (CSDS); dedicated transmission service (DTS); teleconferencing service (TS); frame relay service (FRS); asynchronous transfer mode service (ATMS); switched multi-megabit service (SMDS); and Internet access service (IAS). The solicitation also expressed the agency's intent to move from government ownership of facilities and equipment, to a pure, contractor-provided service-based arrangement. Agency Report, Mar. 9, 2000 at 6 (Agency Report); RFP sect.sect. C, L, M.