Five-R Company, B-288190, September 10, 2001

B-288190 Sep 10, 2001 Jump To VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Agency reasonably found that protester's past performance was satisfactory. Where the protester's recent experience was not on projects of the same magnitude as the solicited project and the particular complexities of the protester's projects were not an aspect of the solicited project. The RFP provided for award to the responsible firm whose offer was found most advantageous to the government. Offerors were assigned a performance risk assessment rating of exceptional/high confidence. Relevance of past performance was to be determined based on work. Five-R's total offer was second lowest priced at $1. 300 and Bowman's was third lowest at $1. Was judged to be relevant to the solicited requirement. View Decision Five-R Company, B-288190, September 10, 2001 DIGEST Attorneys DECISION Five-R Company protests the Department of the Air Force's award of a contract to John Bowman, Inc. under request for proposals (RFP) No. F48608-01-R0008. Five-R contends that the agency unreasonably evaluated its proposal under the past performance evaluation factor. We deny the protest. The RFP, issued February 26, 2001, contemplated the award of a fixed-price contract for asbestos abatement and demolition of the existing golf course clubhouse, and the construction of a new golf course clubhouse, at F.E. Warren Air Force Base (AFB), Wyoming. The RFP provided for award to the responsible firm whose offer was found most advantageous to the government, considering past performance and price equally. In evaluating past performance, offerors were assigned a performance risk assessment rating of exceptional/high confidence, very good/significant confidence, satisfactory/confidence, neutral/unknown confidence, marginal/little confidence, or unsatisfactory/no confidence, based on the recency, relevance and quality of the offerors' past performance. Relevance of past performance was to be determined based on work, size, and complexity as compared to the RFP work. The RFP proposal instructions provided: Past performance shall provide adequate information describing the offeror's previous experience in construction of golf course clubhouse or work of a similar complexity and magnitude, both commercial and government within the past three years. The offeror shall also list all contracts (maximum of last ten consecutive contracts) performed the past three years. RFP at 40 (emphasis in original). The RFP advised that, although the agency reserved the right to conduct discussions if necessary, it planned to make award on the basis of initial proposals. The agency received six proposals by the April 9 due date. Five-R's total offer was second lowest priced at $1,719,300 and Bowman's was third lowest at $1,831,300. A performance risk assessment group (PRAG) conducted a past performance evaluation for each offeror. The agency initially received two questionnaires regarding Five-R's past performance on other contracts. One of those, an Air Force contract for the renovation of three missile alert facilities, with a total dollar value of $1,951,059, was judged to be relevant to the solicited requirement. The other project of remodeling at a restaurant, with a dollar value of $175,000, was judged to be somewhat relevant. The agency then called Five-R, stated that only two questionnaires had been received, and asked if it had performed other work during the last 3 years. As a result of this request, Five-R provided two additional projects that it had performed at a hotel and at a personal residence. The jobs, one valued at $282,000 and another valued at $29,167, were judged to be somewhat relevant to the present project. Five-R also referenced work that had been performed more than 3 years earlier, which was not considered by the PRAG. /1/ Five-R received an overall satisfactory/confidence rating. While Five-R received favorable comments from its references, and its projects were found to be relevant or somewhat relevant to the solicited golf course clubhouse project, the PRAG noted that these projects were for small-scale construction projects. In this regard, the PRAG noted that the Air Force contract was for the renovation of three separate facilities to be completed in sequence for approximately $650,000 apiece, which was 36 percent of the cost of the RFP project.