Johnson Controls World Services, Inc., B-286714.2, February 13, 2001

B-286714.2 Feb 13, 2001 Jump To VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Protest that awardee had unfair competitive advantage due to organizational conflict of interest is sustained where awardee's proposed subcontractor possessed information through its work as a government contractor. The information was not available to other offerors. There were no meaningful procedures in place to prevent interaction between the employees possessing the information and the employees preparing the proposal. 2. Protest that awardee has impaired objectivity type of organizational conflict of interest is sustained where record shows that. Proposed subcontractor will be making recommendations that could benefit the awardee. That the award therefore was improper. BACKGROUND This acquisition was conducted pursuant to Office of Management and Budget Circular A-76. View Decision Matter of: Johnson Controls World Services, Inc. File: B-286714.2 Date: February 13, 2001 DIGEST Attorneys DECISION Johnson Controls World Services, Inc. (JCWSI) protests the award of a contract to IT Corporation under request for proposals (RFP) No. DABT60-99-R-0013, issued by the Department of the Army for services to be performed at Fort Benning, Georgia. JCWSI maintains that IT, through one of its subcontractors (Innovative Logistics Techniques, Inc. (INNOLOG)), has an impermissible organizational conflict of interest (OCI), and that the award therefore was improper. We sustain the protest. BACKGROUND This acquisition was conducted pursuant to Office of Management and Budget Circular A-76, and is one of numerous A-76 studies being conducted by the Army in connection with its installation support services requirements. A broad array of services are contemplated for this requirement, including buildings maintenance, family housing maintenance, utility systems operations and maintenance, heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems maintenance, grounds maintenance, self-help services, water and wastewater plant operations and maintenance, range maintenance, installation transportation services, base supply services, material maintenance services, cemetery services, military logistical planning, support and execution, and remote camp operations, maintenance and support. RFP at C-vi-vii. The solicitation provided that the lowest-cost technically acceptable proposal would be selected for purposes of the cost comparison with the Army's most efficient organization (MEO). RFP at M-1. After the receipt of offers, the evaluation of proposals, the conduct of discussions and the submission of final proposal revisions, IT was selected as the lowest-cost, technically acceptable offeror. IT's proposal was then compared to the government's MEO and found to offer a cost savings as compared to performance by the government. JCWSI's does not challenge any aspect of the agency's conduct of the procurement from the standpoint of its evaluation of proposals, conduct of discussions or eventual source selection. Instead, the protest centers on a teaming arrangement between IT and INNOLOG. According to JCWSI, INNOLOG's activities under another contract created an impermissible OCI that should have led to the exclusion of the IT team from competing for this requirement. In this regard, INNOLOG currently is performing another contract, known as the integrated sustainment maintenance (ISM) contract. Under that contract, according to JCWSI, INNOLOG had access to detailed agency information that provided the IT team with an improper competitive advantage in preparing its proposal. The protester further maintains that INNOLOG's responsibilities under its ISM contract will conflict with the IT team's performance under the Fort Benning contract at issue here. INNOLOG's ISM Contract Under its ISM contract, INNOLOG established and maintains the Executive Management Information System (EMIS) database, which compiles detailed work order information relating to maintenance activities performed at various Army installations worldwide (including Fort Benning). Hearing Transcript (Tr.) at 297. For example, when a piece of Army equipment (such as a vehicle or weapon) requires repair, a work order is issued for that repair. In the course of the repair effort, information from the work order (including the identity of the equipment, the parts used to make the repair, the number of productive labor hours required to perform the repair, the average hourly cost of labor (both direct and indirect) and the amount of time the piece of equipment remains in a repair status) is entered into other Army databases (such as the Standard Army Maintenance System (SAMS)). Tr. at 298-99. Data from these other systems is loaded from each installation into the larger EMIS database. The data in the EMIS can be retrieved in the form of either standardized reports or, using a software tool that allows the user to formulate custom search queries, in a customized format. Tr.