Cygnus Corporation, Inc., B-292649.3; B-292649.4, December 30, 2003

Cygnus Corporation, Inc., B-292649.3; B-292649.4, December 30, 2003 TITLE: Cygnus Corporation, Inc., B-292649.3; B-292649.4, December 30, 2003 BNUMBER: B-292649.3; B-292649.4 DATE: December 30, 2003 ********************************************************************** DOCUMENT FOR PUBLIC RELEASE The decision issued on the date below was subject to a GAO Protective Order. This redacted version has been approved for public release. A A Decision A A Matter of: Cygnus Corporation, Inc. A File: B-292649.3; B-292649.4 A Date: December 30, 2003 A Hilary S. Cairnie, Esq., and Melissa M. Nichols, Esq., Vorys, Sater, Seymour & Pease, for the protester. Harvey G. Sherzer, Esq., Scott Arnold, Esq., Tara M. Newmyer, Esq., and Justin A. Chiarodo, Esq., Dickstein, Shapiro, Morin & Oshinsky, for The Hill Group, an intervenor. Michael Colvin, Department of Health & Human Services, for the agency. David A. Ashen, Esq., and John M. Melody, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST A Discussions with protester were not meaningful, and protest therefore is sustained, where agency (1) failed to advise protester of significant weaknesses in its proposal, and (2) conducted misleading discussions concerning other weaknesses or deficiencies by advising protester prior to submission of final proposal revisions that agreement had been achieved as to all technical and cost issues raised during negotiations when in fact the agency's concerns had not been resolved. DECISION A Cygnus Corporation protests the Department of Health and Human Services, National Institute of Health's (NIH), award of a contract to The Hill Group (THG), under request for proposals (RFP) No. RFP-NIH-NIDDK-02-02, for support services for the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK). Cygnus challenges the evaluation of proposals and asserts that the agency failed to conduct meaningful discussions. We sustain the protest. A The RFP, issued February 21, 2002, contemplated award of a cost-reimbursement contract, with a period of 7 years, for support of NIDDK-sponsored scientific meetings, conferences and workshops, meetings of NIDDK strategic planning groups, and meetings of interagency coordinating committees coordinated and managed by NIDDK. In particular, the contractor will be required to furnish pre-meeting support, travel support, administrative and on-site support, post-meeting support, documentation, communication services, and technical writing services. In addition, the contractor will be required to maintain the National Minority Research Investigator Communication Network and provide website development support with respect to NIDDK's site on the World Wide Web. A Award was to be made to the responsible contractor whose offer was determined to provide the best overall value to the government. The best value proposal was to be determined based on cost and the technical evaluation factors, including past performance and the following scored technical evaluation criteria and subcriteria: (1)A personnel capabilities, including subcriteria for project manager (worth 20 of 100A possible overall technical evaluation points), computer/database specialist (13A points), conference manager (12 points), graphics designer (10A points), and writer/editor (10A points); and (2)A organizational capability, including subcriteria for understanding the scope of work (15 points), organizational experience and capability (10 points), and facilities and equipment (10 points). The RFP provided that past performance was not to be scored, but indicated that past performance would be "highly influential" in determining the relative merits of the proposals. Overall, the technical proposal was to receive "paramount consideration" in the selection of the contractor, and all evaluation factors other than cost were, when combined, significantly more important than cost. RFP S M. A Initial proposals were received from eight offerors, including THG and Cygnus. THG's initial proposal, with a proposed cost of $[DELETED], received a technical score of 88A and was found to be acceptable. Cygnus's initial proposal, with a proposed cost of $[DELETED], received a technical score of 85 and also was found to be acceptable.