Draeger Safety, Inc., B-285366; B-285366.2, August 23, 2000

Draeger Safety, Inc., B-285366; B-285366.2, August 23, 2000 TITLE: Draeger Safety, Inc., B-285366; B-285366.2, August 23, 2000 BNUMBER: B-285366; B-285366.2 DATE: August 23, 2000 ********************************************************************** Draeger Safety, Inc., B-285366; B-285366.2, August 23, 2000 Decision Matter of: Draeger Safety, Inc. File: B-285366; B-285366.2 Date: August 23, 2000 David D. DiBari, Esq., William Silverman, Esq., Richard P. Ferrin, Esq., and Anthony M. Cooke, Esq., Clifford, Chance, Rogers & Wells, for the protester. Ron R. Hutchinson, Esq., and James D. Bachman, Esq., Doyle & Bachman, for Scott Aviation, an intervenor. Roger D. Waldron, Esq., General Services Administration, and John M. Davis, Esq., Veronica E. Murtha, Esq., Lisa L. Hare, Esq., Valencia L. Bowers, Esq., and Michael J. Glennon, Esq., Department of the Navy, for the agencies. Christine Davis, Esq., and James Spangenberg, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST 1. Where an agency requests competition among Federal Supply Schedule vendors and decides to shift to the vendors the burden of selecting items on which to quote, the vendors must be given sufficient detail to allow them to compete intelligently and fairly. 2. Agency reasonably declined to establish blanket purchase agreement for self-contained breathing apparatuses with a Federal Supply Schedule vendor whose offered products either did not meet the agency's stowage size requirements or were otherwise unacceptable. DECISION Draeger Safety, Inc. protests the Department of the Navy's issuance of blanket purchase agreement (BPA) No. N00024-00-A-4030, to Scott Aviation for self-contained breathing apparatuses (SCBA) for use by sailors in fighting shipboard fires. The Navy established the BPA under Scott's Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) contract. Draeger, which also has an FSS contract for SCBAs, protests that the Navy improperly determined that Draeger's equipment would not meet the Navy's needs, and that Scott's equipment was unacceptable and otherwise could not be ordered from the FSS. We deny the protest. An SCBA is a respiratory protection device that supplies oxygen to firefighters, allowing them to breathe in areas with unbreathable or contaminated air. The SCBA supplies air to the firefighter from compressed air cylinders worn on the firefighter's back. Navy Report at 2. The SCBA is worn as a backpack, with an adjustable waist belt and shoulder straps. See Navy Report, Tab 37, Intervenor's Product Demonstration Video; Tab 38, Protester's Product Demonstration Video. The Navy sent a draft BPA to vendors holding FSS contracts for SCBAs, including Draeger and Scott. The agency estimated a requirement for 25,000 SCBAs and stated that it would establish BPAs with either one or two contractors representing "the best value" to meet this requirement. [1] The Navy asked interested vendors to complete pricing grids in the draft BPA, to perform a product demonstration of their SCBA units, and to loan the units to the government for testing and evaluation. Other than stating that the offered SCBAs must be commercially available, certified by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, and meet or exceed National Fire Protection Association Standard 1981, the Navy did not disclose to the vendors any aspect of its particular requirements, its evaluation scheme, its source selection criteria, or its testing procedures. Id., Tab 20, Commerce Business Daily (CBD) Net Announcement; Tabs 22 and 23, Distribution of Draft BPA to Protester and Intervenor. The Navy did answer various questions from the vendors about its requirements, although none directly related to whether the Navy had any size limitations for storage of the SCBAs. Id., Tabs 24 and 25, Questions and Responses. Draeger, Scott, and another firm responded to the draft BPA. Draeger's FSS contract includes the AirBoss Evolution SCBA, which it demonstrated for the Navy on December 7, 1999. Id. at 5-6; Tab 72, Modification of Protester's FSS Contract. Draeger's AirBoss Evolution SCBA includes a removable comfort pad, which Draeger's commercial literature describes as optional, although this option is not priced in Draeger's FSS contract. Id., Tab 32, Protester's Draft BPA, AirBoss Evolution Specification, General Specifications, at 1; Tab 72, Modification of Protester's FSS Contract. Scott's FSS contract includes the Air-Pak 4.5 SCBA, which it demonstrated for the Navy on that same date. Id. at 5; Tab 27, Modification of Intervenor's FSS Contract, Dec. 2, 1999. Following the vendors' product demonstrations, the Navy borrowed Scott's and Draeger's SCBAs for evaluation and testing. Based upon its evaluation of the SCBAs, the Navy determined that the Draeger unit was unsatisfactory for Navy use.