Population Health Services, Inc., B-292858, December 1, 2003

B-292858 Dec 01, 2003 Jump To VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights PHS argues that the agency's evaluation of its proposal was inconsistent with the terms of the solicitation and unreasonable. /1/ We deny the protest. The RFP was issued for occupational medical services to support the 11. For almost 50 years "was dedicated to plutonium production for the nation's nuclear arsenal.". The personnel working at Hanford are exposed to "chemical and radiological hazards. Given Hanford's history and the resultant health risks personnel are exposed to. The occupational medical program is. "an integral component of the Site's safety management system and is critical for maintaining the health and safety of Hanford employees.". The contractor will be required to provide all personnel. View Decision Population Health Services, Inc., B-292858, December 1, 2003 DIGEST Attorneys DECISION Population Health Services, Inc. (PHS) protests the exclusion of its proposal from the competitive range under request for proposals (RFP) No. DE-RP06-03RL14383, issued by the Department of Energy (DOE), for occupational medical services. PHS argues that the agency's evaluation of its proposal was inconsistent with the terms of the solicitation and unreasonable. /1/ We deny the protest. The RFP was issued for occupational medical services to support the 11,000 personnel currently working on or near DOE's Hanford site. The Hanford site consists of 586 square miles of land in southeastern Washington, and for almost 50 years "was dedicated to plutonium production for the nation's nuclear arsenal." As a result of the plutonium production operations, Hanford has "become the nation's largest environmental cleanup project." Agency Report (AR) at 1. The personnel working at Hanford are exposed to "chemical and radiological hazards, as well as more typical construction-related hazards." AR at 1-2. Given Hanford's history and the resultant health risks personnel are exposed to, the occupational medical program is, according to the agency, "an integral component of the Site's safety management system and is critical for maintaining the health and safety of Hanford employees." AR at 2. The medical services to be provided under this RFP include, among other things, medical monitoring and qualification examinations, diagnosis and treatment of injury or illness, employee counseling and health promotion, field/facility visits, records and case management, and emergency and disaster preparedness. The RFP provided for the award of a performance-based, cost reimbursement service contract for 3 years. The contractor will be required to provide all personnel, facilities, equipment, materials, and supplies (with the exception of identified government resources) to perform the required occupational medical services. The RFP specified that "[t]he Contractor has the responsibility for total performance under this contract, including determining the specific methods for accomplishing the work effort, performing quality control, and assuming accountability for accomplishing the work under the contract." RFP Sec. C.2. Award of the contract was to be made to the offeror submitting the proposal determined to represent the best value to the agency based upon the evaluation criteria of technical/management and cost. The RFP provided that the technical/management criterion was comprised of the following six sub-criteria, listed in descending order of importance: experience; medical approach; past performance; organization, controls, and systems; small business; and transition plan. The solicitation also informed offerors that in determining best value, the technical/management criterion would be of significantly greater importance than cost/fee. The agency received a number of proposals, including PHS's, by the RFP's closing date. /2/ The SEB found that PHS's proposal contained significant weaknesses under the most heavily weighted evaluation sub-criterion of experience, in that PHS was "a new-start corporate entity, not teamed with any other entity" and had "no previous relevant corporate experience." AR, Tab B, Source Evaluation Board (SEB) Report, at 21. The SEB also found PHS's proposal deficient under the experience evaluation sub-criterion because the individual proposed for the key position of clinical director lacked the required minimum experience. Id. at 23. The agency also evaluated PHS's proposal as having a significant weakness under the next most important evaluation sub-criterion of medical approach, given the SEB's determination that the proposal evidenced weaknesses in 12 of the 15 evaluation elements comprising the medical approach sub-criterion. AR, Tab B, SEB Report, at 7.