ITT Federal Systems International Corporation, B-285176.4; B-285176.5, January 9, 2001

ITT Federal Systems International Corporation, B-285176.4; B-285176.5, January 9, 2001 TITLE: ITT Federal Systems International Corporation, B-285176.4; B-285176.5, January 9, 2001 BNUMBER: B-285176.4; B-285176.5 DATE: January 9, 2001 ********************************************************************** ITT Federal Systems International Corporation, B-285176.4; B-285176.5, January 9, 2001 Decision Matter of: ITT Federal Systems International Corporation File: B-285176.4; B-285176.5 Date: January 9, 2001 C. Stanley Dees, Esq., Alison L. Doyle, Esq., and Suzette W. Derrevere, Esq., McKenna & Cuneo, for the protester. David S. Cohen, Esq. and John J. O'Brien, Esq., Cohen Mohr, and George J. Affe, Esq., for Sprint Communications Co., L.P., an intervenor. William Mayers, Esq., and Capt. Stephanie D. Hillmon, Defense Information Systems Agency, for the agency. Charles W. Morrow, Esq., and James A. Spangenberg, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST 1. Protest that agency failed to conduct meaningful discussions is denied where the discussions led the protester into the areas of its proposal that required amplification and revision. 2. Agency reasonably evaluated the protester's proposal for telecommunications services in accordance with the solicitation's evaluation factors. 3. Price evaluation under solicitation for fixed-price telecommunications contract, which compared the awardee's price to the others received, was unobjectionable. DECISION ITT Federal Systems International Corporation protests the award of a contract to Sprint Communications Co., L.P. under request for proposals (RFP) No. DCA400-00-R-0003, issued by the Defense Information Systems Agency, Defense Information Technology Contracting Organization-Europe (DITCO), for telecommunication services. ITT challenges the conduct of discussions, and the evaluation of ITT's technical proposal and Sprint's price proposal. We deny the protest. The RFP, issued on November 18, 1999, sought to procure communications services, including equipment, voice and data for United States forces in Hungary, Bosnia-Herzogovina, and Croatia under a fixed-price, indefinite-delivery, requirements contract, for a 2-year base period with three 1-year option periods. RFP sect.sect. C.1.1, F.52.211-9200, L.52.216-1. By this RFP, DITCO plans to replace the existing communications network and equipment being operated and maintained by U.S. forces and Sprint (the incumbent contractor) with a single commercial contractor. [1] The RFP instructions required proposals to be submitted in three volumes entitled engineering design concept (EDC), past performance, and price. The RFP advised that the EDC response was to demonstrate the technical configuration and design solution of the proposed network, was required to be "comprehensive and complete in sufficient detail to demonstrate that the proposed solution complies with all the requirements of the SOW [statement of work]," and "must provide a paragraph by paragraph discussion of the [SOW], illustrating how the proposal satisfies every [requirement]." The RFP cautioned that "[r]estating the requirement identified in the [SOW] and stating ‘will comply' or similar language, is unacceptable." Also, the RFP advised that the EDC response "must incorporate a minimum 25% growth factor to the user baseline provided in Section J of the solicitation; to accommodate anticipated increases in the subscriber base over the intervening 12 months from issuance of this solicitation to activation of service under the new contract." [2] RFP sect. L.52.215-9204B. The EDC response was required to be divided into three subsections entitled management, technical, and cutover solution.