CDR Enterprises, Inc., B-293557, March 26, 2004

B-293557 Mar 26, 2004 Jump To VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights DIGEST Agency properly concluded that there was no organizational conflict of interest on the part of the firm in line for award where the firm was not involved in creation of the solicitation's statement of work (SOW). SOW was not essentially derived from materials furnished by the firm. CDR contends that Air Liquide should have been excluded from the competition because it was involved in creating. Air Liquide is required to perform semi-annual inspections of the pipeline cathodic protection system and to notify the contracting officer of any malfunctions capable of jeopardizing system operability. The notification is to describe the malfunction. The contracting officer is to review the notification and negotiate the scope and cost of the corrective action that he or she deems appropriate. View Decision CDR Enterprises, Inc., B-293557, March 26, 2004 * REDACTED DECISION DIGEST Attorneys DECISION CDR Enterprises, Inc. protests the award of a contract to Air Liquide America L.P. under request for proposals (RFP) No. SPO600-03-R-0336, issued by the Defense Logistics Agency, Defense Energy Support Center (DESC), for repair of the cathodic protection system for the gaseous nitrogen pipeline at Vandenberg Air Force Base (AFB), California. CDR contends that Air Liquide should have been excluded from the competition because it was involved in creating, and authored a report required to be read in conjunction with, the RFP's statement of work and because it had a direct oversight relationship to the protester during the selection process. We deny the protest. BACKGROUND Air Liquide holds a contract for the supply of gaseous nitrogen (GN2) through a government-owned pipeline to end users on Vandenberg AFB. The pipeline extends from a nitrogen plant to space launch complex 3 (the SLC-3 branch), space launch complex 4 (the SLC-4 branch), and space launch complex 6 (the SLC-6 branch). Pursuant to its contract, Air Liquide is required to perform semi-annual inspections of the pipeline cathodic protection system and to notify the contracting officer of any malfunctions capable of jeopardizing system operability. The notification is to describe the malfunction, the consequences of not correcting it, the contractor's proposed method of correcting it, and the estimated cost of implementing the corrective action. The contracting officer is to review the notification and negotiate the scope and cost of the corrective action that he or she deems appropriate. In May 1999, Air Liquide reported that its inspections of the pipeline cathodic protection system showed that the SLC-6 branch was unprotected as a result of depletion of the protective anode beds and that several of the anode beds along the SLC-3 and the SLC-4 branches were also depleted. Pursuant to the above contract, the government negotiated with Air Liquide for replacement of the anode beds along the SLC-6 branch, which work was accomplished in June 2000. In September 2000, Air Liquide reported that the integrity of the cathodic protection for the SLC-6 branch had been restored, but that readings along the SLC-3/4 branch indicated anode depletion on the SLC-4 portion. Over the course of the next 2-1/2 years, Air Liquide reiterated its finding that the anode beds along the SLC-4 branch had been consumed and recommended their replacement; beginning in November 2002, it also reported that the SLC-3 anode beds were substantially depleted and recommended their replacement. According to the contracting officer, initially it was assumed that Air Liquide would perform the repairs on the SLC-3/4 branch under its existing contract; pursuant to this assumption, Air Liquide submitted to the contracting office both a Statement of Objectives (SOO) (dated September 21, 2001) and, after agency feedback, a revised SOO (dated March 10, 2003). Rather than proceeding with award of the work to Air Liquide under its current contract, however, the Director of Missile Fuels at DESC determined that the agency should compete the work to obtain better prices for the government. Accordingly, she directed Vandenberg AFB personnel to draft their own statement of work (SOW) and to exclude Air Liquide from any discussions regarding the SOW. The contracting office contacted the project manager for the GN2 pipeline at Vandenberg AFB, who worked with an agency electrical engineer and a mechanical engineer employed by an agency contractor to draft an SOW. RFP No. SPO600-03-R-0336, requesting offers for inspection and repair of the GN2 pipeline's existing cathodic protection system, was issued on September 25, 2003, with a closing date of October 7. The RFP contemplated the award of a fixed-price contract to the acceptable offeror with the lowest evaluated price.