R&D Dynamics Corporation, B-285979.3, December 11, 2000

B-285979.3 Dec 11, 2000 Jump To VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights DIGEST Protest that evaluation and source selection conducted pursuant to the Department of Defense Small Business Innovation Research program was improper because the agency improperly failed to evaluate proposals and make award in accordance with the solicitation's stated evaluation factors is denied where the record shows that the evaluation was reasonable and consistent with those evaluation factors. The SBIR program is conducted pursuant to the Small Business Innovation Development Act. DOD issues an SBIR solicitation twice a year listing the research topics for which it will consider SBIR program admission. If phase I is successful. Firms are expected to obtain funding from the private sector and/or non-SBIR government sources to develop the concept into a product for sale in private sector and/or military markets. View Decision Matter of: R&D Dynamics Corporation File: B-285979.3 Date: December 11, 2000 DIGEST Attorneys DECISION R&D Dynamics Corporation protests the Department of the Army's determination to award phase II funding to Mohawk Innovative Technology, Inc. (MITI) for a project both firms proposed under the Department of Defense (DOD) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. R&D alleges that the Army improperly failed to evaluate proposals and make award in accordance with the solicitation's stated evaluation factors. /1/ We deny the protest. The SBIR program is conducted pursuant to the Small Business Innovation Development Act, 15 U.S.C. Sec. 638 (1994 & Supp. IV 1998), which requires certain federal agencies to reserve a portion of their research and development funds for awards to small businesses. As part of its SBIR program, DOD issues an SBIR solicitation twice a year listing the research topics for which it will consider SBIR program admission. Firms first apply for a 6-month phase I award to test the scientific, technical, and commercial merit and feasibility of a certain concept. If phase I is successful, the firm may be invited to apply for a 2-year phase II award to further develop the concept. After the completion of phase II, firms are expected to obtain funding from the private sector and/or non-SBIR government sources to develop the concept into a product for sale in private sector and/or military markets. DOD's SBIR website, >. DOD Fiscal Year (FY) 1999 SBIR Program Solicitation 99.2 listed the available SBIR topics for FY 1999 for phase I proposals. The solicitation divided these topics into sections corresponding with a different DOD component. Each section contained topic descriptions and special instructions for preparing and submitting proposals to organizations within the cognizant DOD component. In the Army's section of the solicitation, the Army Research Laboratory (ARL) solicited topic A99-019, "Oil-free Auxiliary Power Unit and Propulsion System Technology," which called for a contractor to "develop innovative oil-free compliant foil bearing and seal technology in a size class suitable for application in the oil-free auxiliary power unit and gas turbine turbomachinery systems used in Army vehicles." Solicitation at Army-25. Both R&D and MITI received phase I funding for this topic in January 2000. A set of Army SBIR program phase II proposal instructions was appended to these award documents. Both section 4.3 of the DOD solicitation and paragraph 7.a. of the Army SBIR program phase II proposal instructions set forth the following evaluation criteria for phase II proposals: a. The soundness, technical merit, and innovation of the proposed approach and its incremental progress toward topic or subtopic solution; b. the qualifications of the proposed principal/key investigators, supporting staff, and consultants; and c. the potential for commercial application and the benefits expected to accrue from this commercialization. The first criterion was to be weighted slightly more than the second two, which were to be equally weighted. Phase II Proposal Instructions at 34. The DOD solicitation advised that the reasonableness of the proposed costs was to be examined to determine those proposals that offered the best value and that, where technical evaluations were essentially equal in merit, cost to the government was to be considered in determining the successful offerors. However, the Army SBIR phase II proposal instructions contained no such language. Instead, those instructions stated that phase II proposals were to be subject to a detailed technical evaluation by technology experts in the Army Laboratories and Centers and by a second, independent review conducted by a panel of senior Army technologists.