The Standard Register Company, B-289579, March 5, 2002

B-289579 Mar 05, 2002 Jump To VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights A firm protested a Government Printing Office (GPO) contract award for card production systems, contending that GPO improperly evaluated the protester's past performance. GAO held that GPO properly evaluated the protester's performance at another facility as nonresponsible. Accordingly, the protest was denied. View Decision The Standard Register Company, B-289579, March 5, 2002 DIGEST Attorneys DECISION The Standard Register Company protests the award of a contract to Monarch Litho, Inc. under invitation for bids (IFB) No. 484-733, issued by the Government Printing Office (GPO) for production of integrated card production systems. Standard asserts that the agency improperly determined that it was nonresponsible. We deny the protest. The IFB sought bids for the production and delivery of 4.5 million sets of envelopes and envelope carriers for use by the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Delivery was to be made in increments of 1.125 million sets on each of four dates, beginning January 14 and ending March 18, 2002. Both Standard and Monarch submitted responsive bids, with Standard's the apparent low bid at $382,050. Because Standard's bid was low, the contracting officer investigated the firm's past performance to assess its responsibility. This included examination of Standard's performance of contract No. 477-716, performed at Standard's Maryland facility, and contract No. 0621-S, which (agency records show) was to be performed at Standard's Kirksville, Missouri facility, the same facility proposed for performance of this requirement, but which Standard moved to its York, Pennsylvania facility after award. Based on unfavorable reports, including a 100-percent late performance report for contract No. 0621-S, the contracting officer determined that Standard was nonresponsible. After finding Monarch responsible, the contracting officer made award to Monarch for $418,814. Standard challenged this decision in an agency-level protest, which GPO denied; Standard then filed this protest with our Office. Standard does not dispute that it experienced the performance problems which led to the agency's nonresponsibility determination; rather, it claims the information the contracting officer considered was not relevant to the solicited work, and did not show that Standard had significant performance problems. Supplemental Comments at 2. A contracting agency has broad discretion in making responsibility determinations, since the agency must bear the effects of any difficulties experienced in obtaining the required performance. Blocacor, LDA, B-282122.3, Aug. 2, 1999, 99-2 CPD Para. 25 at 4. Thus, a contracting officer has the discretion to determine the weight to be accorded the information he or she receives concerning a bidder's past performance, that is, to determine whether that past performance indicates there will be problems on the contract to be awarded. Mine Safety Appliances Co., B-266025, Jan. 17, 1996, 96-1 CPD Para. 86 at 25. Although responsibility determinations must be based on fact, and reached in good faith, they are of necessity a matter of business judgment. Blocacor, LDA, supra. We will not question a nonresponsibility determination absent bad faith on the part of agency officials or the lack of a reasonable basis for the determination. EPCo Assocs., B-238015, Apr. 13, 1990, 90-1 CPD Para. 388 at 5. The nonresponsibility determination here was reasonable. The agency reports that there were "numerous unexcused problems performing adequately" on contract No. 0621-S, including 6 (out of 6) print orders that were late by 23 to 77 days. Contracting Officer's Declaration Para. 7. Similarly, contract No. 477-716 was for the same items sought in this procurement, and the agency reports that Standard had "significant problems performing . . . both in terms of quality and timeliness." Id., Paras. 7-8. The contract at issue is for printing and delivery of 4.5 million sets of documents, with the first of four deliveries of 1.125 million sets due some 35 days after award, and the last due some 94 days after award. In view of this relatively short delivery schedule, the information regarding Standard's poor record producing these same items and its late deliveries of other printed materials was unquestionably relevant to the determination of its responsibility, and supported the agency's negative finding. In our view, Standard's poor performance of these two relevant contracts provided a reasonable basis for the contracting officer's nonresponsibility determination. Standard asserts that it was improper for the agency to base its nonresponsibility determination on Standard's performance on contract Nos. 0621-S and 477-716, because neither of these contracts concerned performance at its Kirksville facility.