ABF Freight System, Inc.; Old Dominion Freight Line, Inc.; Overnite, B-291185, November 8, 2002

B-291185 Nov 08, 2002 Jump To VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Protest that the minimum order quantity is inadequate is denied. Where the guaranteed minimum amount is sufficient to support a binding contract and reflects the minimum amount the agency is fairly certain to order from each contractor. 2. Violates FAR Sec. 47.207-6(b) because the solicitation specifies unit pricing that offerors must use for "accessorial services" is denied. Because the agency is not required to apply the requirements in FAR Sec. 47.207-6(b) in a commercial item acquisition. 3. Protest objecting to solicitation requiring that certain accessorial services be provided at no additional charge and that the costs for these services be factored into offerors' line-haul rates is denied where the protesters did not show that the solicitation's allocation of cost risk to the contractors was unreasonable. View Decision ABF Freight System, Inc.; Old Dominion Freight Line, Inc.; Overnite Transportation Co.; Roadway Express, Inc.; and Yellow Freight System, Inc., B-291185, November 8, 2002 DIGEST Attorneys DECISION ABF Freight System, Inc.; Old Dominion Freight Line, Inc.; Overnite Transportation Co.; Roadway Express, Inc.; and Yellow Freight System, Inc. protest the terms of request for proposals (RFP) No. DAMT01-02-R-0060, issued by the Military Traffic Management Command (MTMC), Department of the Army, for the shipment of "freight all kinds" (FAK) and other commodities for Department of Defense activities within the continental United States. /1/ We deny the protest. Since 1979, MTMC has acquired FAK shipment services through the agency's Guaranteed Traffic (GT) program, a Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR)-exempt, transportation management tool under which MTMC issues requests for rate tenders for traffic for particular routes for a specified period of time, and awards what are, in effect, requirements contracts to the successful carriers. See Agency Legal Memorandum at 1; see also Ready Transportation, Inc., B-285283.3, B-285283.4, May 8, 2001, 2001 CPD Para. 90 at 1-2. The RFP was issued to implement the agency's transition from the GT program to a FAR-based procurement system. See 65 Fed. Reg. 45362 (July 21, 2000) (Notice of Proposed Change to MTMC Freight Transportation Procurement Procedures). MTMC issued the RFP pursuant to the commercial-item provisions of FAR Subpart 12.3 and sought proposals for the award of multiple Tailored Transportation Contracts. These will be indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (ID/IQ) contracts for a 1-year base period with 2 option years. /2/ Unlike the GT program, which was restricted to carriers, the competition under the RFP is open to any responsible contractor capable of providing the transportation services directly or through subcontracts. /3/ Offerors were informed that the transportation services would be acquired using a regional structure concept developed by MTMC under which there were nine "origin" regions and six "destination" regions. /4/ RFP Sec. C.1.2. As amended, the solicitation schedule identified lanes between eight origin regions and six destination regions, and for each lane identified estimated shipments and average weight and mileage for each shipment. /5/ See . For each lane, and weight category within each lane, offerors were required to provide a fixed-price rate per hundred weight (CWT) of cargo. Id. The services to be provided included both less-than-truckload (LTL) and truckload (TL) shipments. The solicitation also included unit pricing offerors were required to use for "accessorial services," such as, for example, vehicle detention, extra driver, storage, and surveillance services, which were not included in the fixed transportation rates that offerors were to propose. /6/ See Agency Report, Tab E, Accessorial Services for TL and LTL for Base and Option Years. The RFP stated that the agency intended to award multiple contracts for each lane. As amended, the solicitation also stated a minimum order quantity for each lane (which was approximately 5 percent of the total estimated shipments per lane) and a maximum order quantity per lane for all contractors. RFP amend. 5. Offerors were informed as follows: The ordering officer will initially offer shipment to awarded contractors on a rotational basis until all contractors have reached their contract minimum guarantee. After the contract minimum guarantees have been reached, the ordering officer will award shipments to those contractors providing the best overall value to the Government, considering the contractor's record of quality performance since contract award and total shipment cost. RFP Sec. C.2.4, amend. 6 at 2. The protesters, which have identified themselves as LTL motor carriers, protest a number of terms and conditions of the RFP.