Digital Imaging Acquisition Networking Associates, Inc., B-285396.3, November 8, 2000

B-285396.3 Nov 08, 2000 Jump To VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights DIGEST Protest that contracting agency unreasonably evaluated protester's offer is denied where record supports reasonableness of agency's evaluation and source selection. DIANA argues that the agency's evaluation was flawed and that its offer should have been selected for award. The RFP explains that current procedures require that when USCS officers have reason to believe that a passenger entering the United States is carrying contraband such as drugs. These passengers are escorted to nearby medical facilities for x-rays. /1/ Since these facilities typically are located away from the USCS officers' duty stations at international airports. Travel to the medical facility and remain with the passenger until an x-ray is performed and interpreted by qualified medical personnel. View Decision Matter of: Digital Imaging Acquisition Networking Associates, Inc. File: B-285396.3 Date: November 8, 2000 DIGEST Attorneys DECISION Digital Imaging Acquisition Networking Associates, Inc. (DIANA) protests the award of a contract to Control Telecom, Inc. (CTI) under request for proposals (RFP) No. CS-00-010, issued by the Department of the Treasury, U.S. Customs Service (USCS) for mobile x-ray services. DIANA argues that the agency's evaluation was flawed and that its offer should have been selected for award. We deny the protest. The RFP explains that current procedures require that when USCS officers have reason to believe that a passenger entering the United States is carrying contraband such as drugs, concealed in their body, these passengers are escorted to nearby medical facilities for x-rays. /1/ Since these facilities typically are located away from the USCS officers' duty stations at international airports, the officers leave their work location, travel to the medical facility and remain with the passenger until an x-ray is performed and interpreted by qualified medical personnel. USCS has determined that the interests of the government would be better served if screening of passengers suspected of internally carrying illegal narcotics were performed at the airport terminal. The contractor is to provide services and mobile equipment to take x-ray photographs. If the contractor provides an on-site board-certified radiologist, the images will be read at the airport; otherwise, the x-ray images will be digitally transmitted to a medical facility for "digital remote read" by board-certified radiologists there. The x-ray process will take place within a fully equipped mobile facility capable of being moved among the various terminals at the airport. The RFP, issued as a total small business set-aside, provided for the award of a fixed-price contract for a base year with 4 option years. The RFP did not require submission of a written technical proposal; instead, firms were asked to submit specified pricing information, a contractor qualifications statement with references, and other written information such as an implementation plan, a project management plan, and past performance information. The RFP called for oral presentations in the form of interviews and performance demonstrations after the submission of offers and stated that the "sole purpose of the interview is to test [the offeror's] knowledge of the requirements of the prospective contract." RFP Sec. L.7.3.2. Detailed instructions were provided for the oral presentation, which was to be limited to 2 hours. The RFP further provided that the agency would not engage in discussions, as defined by Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 15, at the oral presentations. The amended RFP provided for award, without discussions, using a best value determination based upon (1) the merits of the offer (acceptability and price reasonableness) and (2) the offeror's capability. An offeror's capability would be determined based on the firm's organizational experience, its organizational past performance, its understanding of the government's requirements, and its compliance with the RFP instructions. Each of the non-price evaluation factors was stated to be equally important, and when combined, were significantly more important than price. Under the organizational experience subfactor, the agency would assess each firm's relevant experience in providing mobile x-ray services, equipment, and personnel, to meet the solicitation requirements described in the statement of work (SOW). For past performance, the RFP required customer references for no more than 10 prior contracts (government or private sector) that were related to the work required here and stated that only some of these customer references would be contacted. The RFP advised that past performance information for key personnel and proposed subcontractors with relevant experience would also be considered.