SWR Inc., B-286161.2, January 24, 2001

B-286161.2 Jan 24, 2001 Jump To VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights DIGEST Rejection of protester's proposal as unacceptable because it allegedly did not show specific required experience was unreasonable. The basis for the rejection was the omission of information concerning this experience in documents that were provided by the protester to the agency at a site visit for another purpose and which did not reasonably establish that the protester did not have the experience required. The alleged deficiency was not identified to the protester during discussions. SWR contends that the Library's evaluation of its proposal was unreasonable. Which were manufactured by Telex. Are four-track. Offerors were informed that the Library estimated that 3. Test requirements for the machines were also provided. View Decision Matter of: SWR Inc. File: B-286161.2 Date: January 24, 2001 DIGEST Attorneys DECISION SWR, Inc. protests the rejection of its proposal and the award of a contract to Telex Communications, Inc. under request for proposals (RFP) No. S-LC00018, issued by the Library of Congress for the repair of talking book machines. SWR contends that the Library's evaluation of its proposal was unreasonable. We sustain the protest. The RFP provided for the award of a fixed-unit-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for the repair of talking book machines owned by the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped for a base year with four 1-year options. The talking book machines, which were manufactured by Telex, are four-track, microprocessor-controlled, audio-cassette tape players that provide fully automatic playback of cassettes recorded using the Library's special track format. RFP Sec. J.3, Service Manual. Offerors were informed that the Library estimated that 3,000 machines would be repaired and tested each year. RFP Sec. C.3.1. Performance, design, and test requirements for the machines were also provided. RFP Sec. J.1, Specification #102. Offerors were also informed that an initial lot of machines would be delivered to the contractor within 30 days of contract award and that the contractor was required to deliver to the agency two "preproduction samples" of repaired machines along with quality assurance test procedures within 60 calendar days of receipt of the initial lot. After the agency's approval of the preproduction samples, machines needing repairs would be delivered to the contractor, which was expected to repair and ship machines "at a rate of approximately 300-400 [machines] per thirty (30) calendar days after receipt." RFP Secs. F.3, F.4. The RFP provided for award on the basis of a cost/technical tradeoff and informed offerors that the technical factors were more important than cost/price. The following technical evaluation factors were listed in descending order of importance: Factor Demonstrated ability to perform timely repairs 1 in accordance with specifications as evidenced by successful past performance in component level repair of complex microprocessor-controlled electromechanical systems, including established quality control practices and procedures. Factor Adequacy of plant facilities, parts acquisition 2 and control, storage capacity, and equipment, including test equipment and ESD control facilities. /1/ Factor Managerial and/or corporate experience and 3 qualifications of production personnel. RFP Sec. M. Instructions for the preparation of proposals were provided. Among other things, offerors were directed to describe their previous experience with component-level repair of complex microprocessor-controlled electromechanical systems, their quality control practices and procedures, their proposed repair facilities, and their complete list of equipment. RFP Sec. L.7. The Library received four offers, including SWR's offer of $[DELETED] million and Telex's offer of $2.21 million. SWR proposed to perform the contract at a dedicated facility it would set up at its company's headquarters with the proposed primary technical staff and equipment being totally dedicated to contract performance. SWR's Technical Proposal at 66-68. SWR's proposal specifically discussed its corporate and staff component-level repair experience. Id. at 11, 15-17, 19-22, 31-42. Telex, the incumbent contractor, proposed to perform the contract using the production line and technical staff that originally built the machines. Telex's Proposal at 1. SWR's initial technical proposal received [DELETED] of 240 possible points and was determined to be unacceptable but capable of being made acceptable through discussions. Specific evaluation concerns with SWR's proposal included the lack of detail in its quality assurance practices; an inadequate description of its proposed production facility; and insufficient details in its resumes concerning the employment history of proposed staff, including how long the staff had been with SWR.