M. Erdal Kamisli, Ltd., B-291522, December 23, 2002

B-291522 Dec 23, 2002 Jump To VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights DIGEST Agency's evaluation of offerors' experience and past performance and the resulting price/technical tradeoff and award determination are unobjectionable where they are reasonable and consistent with the solicitation evaluation criteria. ERKA contends that the agency failed to apply the evaluation criterion for experience in the manner that was called for by the solicitation. Award was to be made without discussions on a "best value" basis considering the evaluation factors of price. Were equal in importance to each other. The RFP explained that projects considered most relevant are those that demonstrate experience as follows: Similar physical size shall be considered for projects with a construction award amount over $1. View Decision M. Erdal Kamisli, Ltd., B-291522, December 23, 2002 * REDACTED DECISION DIGEST Attorneys DECISION M. Erdal Kamisli, Ltd. (ERKA) protests the award of a contract to Kulak Insaat Ticaret ve Sanayi (Kulak), under request for proposals (RFP) No. DACA90-02-R-0045, issued by the Army Corps of Engineers, for the construction of a base supply warehouse at Incirlik Air Base, Turkey. ERKA contends that the agency failed to apply the evaluation criterion for experience in the manner that was called for by the solicitation, and that in determining to award to Kulak the agency improperly concluded that Kulak had better experience which justified paying its higher price. We deny the protest. BACKGROUND The solicitation, issued on August 8, 2002, called for the submission of fixed-price proposals by September 16, 2002. Award was to be made without discussions on a "best value" basis considering the evaluation factors of price, experience and past performance, with price equal in importance to the non-price factors which, in turn, were equal in importance to each other. RFP Sec. 00100 Para. 6. With respect to the experience factor, the RFP provided that relevance, depth and breadth would be evaluated and called for offerors to provide information on at least 3 projects performed within the last 5 years that show experience constructing "facilities of a similar cost, physical size, complexity and function." RFP Sec. 00100 Para. 4. The RFP explained that projects considered most relevant are those that demonstrate experience as follows: Similar physical size shall be considered for projects with a construction award amount over $1,000,000. Similar complexity shall be considered new construction of all major building systems (architectural, electrical, mechanical, etc.) for a warehouse. Similar function shall be considered construction or renovation of industrial buildings. Id. The RFP stated that "[t]he number of relevant projects in the past five years determines depth of experience." RFP Sec. 00100 Para. 6. The agency received 18 proposals by the closing date, which were evaluated on September 17 and 18 by a technical evaluation board (TEB). The lowest-price proposal was that of [Deleted], at a price of $1,740,000, which was evaluated as "fair/good" for experience and past performance. The two next lowest-price proposals were ERKA's, at a price of $2,143,143, which was also evaluated as "fair/good" for experience and past performance, and Kulak's, at a price of $2,448,000, which was evaluated as "good/good." The lowest-price proposal that received a higher overall technical rating was one submitted by [Deleted], at a price of $2,580,000, which was evaluated as "good/outstanding." In making his award determination, the contracting officer noted that the Kulak proposal was the lowest-price proposal that received a consensus rating of "good/good" on experience and past performance. The contracting officer determined that the price premium associated with the [Deleted] proposal that received a higher overall technical evaluation was not warranted since it did not reflect a "significant specific benefit." Agency Report (AR), Tab 20, Source Selection Document, at 6. The contracting officer concluded that the strengths reflected in the Kulak proposal warranted payment of the $708,000 cost premium compared to the [Deleted] proposal, as well as the lesser cost premium compared to the similarly rated ERKA proposal. Id. at 6-7. Accordingly, award was made to Kulak and, after receiving a debriefing, ERKA filed this protest with our Office. PROTEST ALLEGATIONS ERKA contends that "the Contracting Officer did not correctly apply the criteria set forth in the Solicitation and failed to provide a rational, defensible basis for awarding the [c]ontract to an offeror other than ERKA, the low bidder by 12.5 [percent], and an established construction company that has extensive, recent experience in performing several similarly complex construction projects in the area of Incirlik Air Base." Protest at 3.