MCR Engineering Company, Inc., B-287164; B-287164.2, April 26, 2001

MCR Engineering Company, Inc., B-287164; B-287164.2, April 26, 2001 TITLE: MCR Engineering Company, Inc., B-287164; B-287164.2, April 26, 2001 BNUMBER: B-287164; B-287164.2 DATE: April 26, 2001 ********************************************************************** MCR Engineering Company, Inc., B-287164; B-287164.2, April 26, 2001 Decision Matter of: MCR Engineering Company, Inc. File: B-287164; B-287164.2 Date: April 26, 2001 Daniel J. Kelly, Esq., and Lisa K. Miller, Esq., Gadsby Hannah, for the protester. Katherine S. Nucci, Esq., and Timothy Sullivan, Esq., Adduci, Mastriani & Schaumberg, for Rolls Royce Naval Marine, Inc., an intervenor. Vera Meza, Esq., and Arthur M. Boley, Esq., Department of the Army, for the agency. Ralph O. White, Esq., and Christine S. Melody, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Protester's challenge to the evaluation of past performance and experience in a competition where several of the awardee's former key employees are now employed by the protester and where those personnel, at least in part, may have had a role in the awardee's favorable past performance, is denied where the record shows that the agency reasonably: (1) credited the protester for the favorable past performance of its key employees (achieved while they were employed by the awardee), but nonetheless recognized that the protester, as a company, has not previously manufactured this item, and does not have production employees with this experience; and (2) considered downgrading the awardee's excellent past performance rating due to the loss of its key personnel, but left the rating intact based on a recognition that the company has continued to successfully perform despite the loss of its former key employees, and is doing so with production employees and a facility that has performed well in the past. DECISION MCR Engineering Company, Inc. protests the award of a contract to Bird-Johnson Company by the Department of the Army, pursuant to request for proposals (RFP) No. DAAE07-00-R-T110, for corner and intermediate hydraulic actuators for the M-9 Armored Combat Earthmover (ACE) vehicle. [1] MCR argues that the agency improperly evaluated proposals in the areas of past performance, experience and small business utilization, and thus, wrongly concluded that Bird-Johnson's higher-priced proposal represented the best value to the government. We deny the protest. BACKGROUND The M-9 ACE vehicle, procured by the Army's Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM) in Warren, Michigan, is a fully-tracked and armored earthmover used to support ground forces. Among other things, the vehicle can be used to breach berms, remove roadblocks, and prepare anti-tank ditches, combat roads and access routes at water obstacles. The actuators being purchased here are the principal component of the M-9's hydraulic suspension system, and each vehicle is equipped with four corner and four intermediate actuators. As these actuators rotate they allow the vehicle's wheels to move up and down over uneven terrain, and they force fluid into accumulators, which act as shock absorbers for the vehicle. Contracting Officer's (CO) Statement, Feb. 22, 2001, at 2. There is no dispute in this record that the manufacture and assembly of these hydraulic actuators require very tight machining tolerances, and a special bench test involving 25 separate performance tests. There is also no dispute that producing these actuators presents a significant challenge for new sources, and that past attempts at awarding contracts to new manufacturers have met with numerous problems. For many years, the Bird-Johnson Company, in Walpole, Massachusetts, has been a source for these actuators, both as a prime contractor and as a subcontractor for the manufacturer of the M-9 vehicle. Over a 5-year period prior to the issuance of this solicitation, four individuals previously employed by Bird-Johnson--at least three of whom appear to have been significantly involved in the M-9 actuator effort--left the company to join MCR Engineering Co., Inc., in nearby North Attleboro, Massachusetts. MCR has not previously been a source for actuators, but has instead provided engineering support for marine propulsion systems. [2] These individuals who left Bird-Johnson now serve as MCR's president, product manager and engineer, quality assurance manager, and M-9 assembly superintendent. Id.; AR, Tab 20, Letter from MCR to TACOM, Mar. 29, 2001. This migration of experienced employees from an existing source to an aspiring one is the backdrop for the evaluation discussion below. The RFP here was issued on December 3, 1999, and anticipated award of a 5-year, indefinite-quantity contract for corner and intermediate actuators. The RFP advised offerors that award would be based on consideration of two factors, past performance and price, with past performance slightly more important than price. Id. at 74.