Safety-Kleen (Pecatonica), Inc., B-290838, September 24, 2002

B-290838 Sep 24, 2002 Jump To VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights DIGEST Agency properly excluded protester's proposal from the competitive range for four contract areas under request for proposals (RFP) for cleanup of clandestine drug laboratories where evaluators reasonably concluded that proposal was not among the most highly rated based on protester's failure to propose response facilities for some contract areas in locations designated in RFP. The DEA explains by way of background that its mission of enforcing federal narcotics laws requires the seizure and destruction of both illicit drugs and the facilities in which they are manufactured. " and contemplated the award of an indefinite-quantity/indefinite-delivery contract for a base period of 1 year and up to four 1-year options for each area. /1/ Contract areas of relevance to this protest are 24-03 (Iowa). View Decision Safety-Kleen (Pecatonica), Inc., B-290838, September 24, 2002 * REDACTED DECISION DIGEST Attorneys DECISION Safety-Kleen (Pecatonica), Inc. (SKI) protests the exclusion of its proposal from the competitive range for several contracts to be awarded under request for proposals (RFP) No. DEA-01-R-0030, issued by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) for the cleanup of clandestine drug laboratories. We deny the protest. The DEA explains by way of background that its mission of enforcing federal narcotics laws requires the seizure and destruction of both illicit drugs and the facilities in which they are manufactured, and that destruction of the clandestine laboratories sometimes entails the disposal of environmentally hazardous chemicals. Agency Memorandum of Law at 1. To ensure its ability to meet its environmental clean-up responsibilities, the agency issued the solicitation at issue here, seeking a contractor to "do all things necessary for or incident to, the performance of characterizing, packing, loading, transporting, storing, analyzing and disposing of hazardous waste seized at clandestine drug laboratories . . . ." RFP Sec. B.1.1. The RFP divided the country into 44 "contract areas," and contemplated the award of an indefinite-quantity/indefinite-delivery contract for a base period of 1 year and up to four 1-year options for each area. /1/ Contract areas of relevance to this protest are 24-03 (Iowa), 25-03 (North Dakota, South Dakota, and Minnesota), 26-03 (Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan), and 27-03 (Northern Illinois and Indiana) (hereinafter referred to as contract areas 24, 25, 26, and 27 respectively). RFP attach. J.2. The solicitation designated one or two "contract centers" in each contract area, /2/ and advised offerors that points would be deducted from the scores of offerors who failed to propose response facilities located in the specified centers. /3/ The RFP provided for award to the offeror whose proposal represented the best value to the government. The solicitation instructed offerors to submit both a technical proposal addressing the solicitation's technical evaluation factors and a business proposal consisting of offeror certifications, a price schedule, a small business subcontracting plan, and a small disadvantaged business participation plan. The solicitation advised that the technical proposal would receive paramount consideration in the selection of an awardee (or awardees), except in the event that two or more proposals received approximately equal technical ratings. Evaluation factors and subfactors and their respective weights were as follows: Factor . Weight 1. Technical Approach/Resources 450 points a. Technical Approach 200 points b. Personnel/Equipment/Material 150 points c. Health and Safety 50 points d. DEA Security Clearances 50 points 2. Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) Treatment, Secure Storage and Disposal 300 points a. Treatment/storage/disposal facility letters of commitment 200 points b. Physical Security 100 points 3. Administrative/Management Services 250 points a. Problem Solving 100 points b. Paperwork 100 points c. Training 50 points 4. Past performance (to be evaluated under foregoing three factors, rather than as a separate criterion) 5. Small Disadvantaged Business (SDB) Participation Plan (to be included in the Business Proposal) 200 points Twenty-three companies responded to the RFP, some bidding on a single contract area and others bidding on multiple areas. SKI submitted offers for only contract areas 24, 25, 26, and 27. For contract area 24, a total of nine offers were received; for contract area 25, seven offers; for contract area 26, four offers; and for contract area 27, eight offers.