TRS Research, B-290644, September 13, 2002

B-290644 Sep 13, 2002 Jump To VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Protest of consolidated procurement is sustained where solicitation consolidated procurement requirements previously provided under separate smaller contracts. Was likely to be unsuitable for award to a small business. Record shows that agency failed to comply with requirements to demonstrate that bundling was justified. 2. For the award of a fixed-price indefinite-quantity contract for container program management services to meet Department of Defense (DOD) needs for leased intermodal container equipment worldwide. /1/ TRS contends that the procurement is improperly bundled and that the agency has not shown that the consolidation of procurement requirements is justified. The RFP's performance work statement was developed by an Integrated Process Team (IPT) consisting of government and industry representatives who set out to incorporate standard business practices into the agency's intermodal container leasing program. View Decision TRS Research, B-290644, September 13, 2002 DIGEST Attorneys DECISION TRS Research, a small business, protests the terms of request for proposals (RFP) No. DAMT01-02-R-0028, issued by the Department of the Army, Military Traffic Management Command (MTMC), for the award of a fixed-price indefinite-quantity contract for container program management services to meet Department of Defense (DOD) needs for leased intermodal container equipment worldwide. /1/ TRS contends that the procurement is improperly bundled and that the agency has not shown that the consolidation of procurement requirements is justified. We sustain the protest. The RFP, issued on March 29, 2002, sought a single source to provide leased intermodal container equipment worldwide to the Army and other agencies, and to manage the agency's intermodal container leasing program, including the development and maintenance of a web-based information management system for ordering equipment and obtaining performance management information via the Internet. The solicitation calls for program management services and the provision of a wide range of intermodal container equipment, including refrigerated containers. The RFP's performance work statement was developed by an Integrated Process Team (IPT) consisting of government and industry representatives who set out to incorporate standard business practices into the agency's intermodal container leasing program. The solicitation was issued on an unrestricted basis after the agency decided, with the concurrence of the agency's small business specialist, not to set the procurement aside for small business concerns because "[t]here is no expectation that 2 or more small businesses exist that can provide the robust system consistent with the requirements of the proposed acquisition in order to provide the best mix of cost, performance and schedule." Small Business Coordination Record, Mar. 19, 2002. The contracting officer, however, did not refer the proposed acquisition to the Small Business Administration (SBA) Procurement Center Representative (PCR) or to anyone else at the SBA for review prior to conducting the procurement. The RFP contemplated the award of a contract for a base year and 4 option years (at a value of approximately $82 million); the RFP provided an additional 5-year award term incentive (increasing the total potential value of the contract to approximately $186 million). RFP Sec. B.2.4. The guaranteed minimum value for the indefinite-quantity effort was set at $500,000 per year, reflecting the agency's estimate that, at a minimum, the program management function would be ordered each year. RFP Sec. B.2.3. Award was to be made to the offeror that submitted the proposal deemed to present the best value to the agency, management, technical, past performance, socio-economic commitment and price factors considered. RFP Secs. M.2-M.4.1.5. The agency's intermodal container leasing program previously had been managed by MTMC, which acted as program manager and contract administrator for requesting activities and vendors. The majority of containers were supplied by nine vendors--including the protester--that had been awarded indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (ID/IQ) contracts under a Master Lease Agreement (MLA) in 1997. Three of the nine ID/IQ vendors (including the protester) are small businesses. The ID/IQ contracts vary in scope; although some vendors were awarded some of the same items, no two of the nine vendors were awarded contracts requiring exactly the same equipment. The MLA, which is set to expire on September 30, had been valued at approximately $45 million; the guaranteed minimum value of each vendor's contract under the MLA was set at $10,000 for a 5-year period. MTMC reports that refrigerated containers and related parts and generator sets were inadvertently omitted entirely from the list of items identified in the MLA.