Altos Federal Group, Inc., B-294120, July 28, 2004

B-294120 Jul 28, 2004 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Altos Federal Group, Inc. protests the rejection of its quotation and the issuance of a task order to InteliStaf Healthcare, Inc., under request for quotations (RFQ) No. 673- 90F-04-003A, issued by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for nursing services at the Wilford Hall Medical Treatment Facility, Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas. Altos contends that the agency improperly evaluated its quotation on the basis of criteria not set forth in the RFQ. We deny the protest. View Decision B-294120, Altos Federal Group, Inc., July 28, 2004 Decision Matter of: Altos Federal Group, Inc. File: B-294120 Date: July 28, 2004 James S. DelSordo, Esq., Halloran & Sage, for the protester. Paul F. Khoury, Esq., and William J. Grimaldi, Esq., Wiley Rein & Fielding, for InteliStaf Healthcare, Inc., an intervenor. Dennis Foley, Esq., Department of Veterans Affairs, for the agency. Jennifer D. Westfall-McGrail, Esq., and Christine S. Melody, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST 1. Where request for quotations for nursing services announced agency's intention to select a Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) contractor, vendors were effectively placed on notice that agency intended to acquire all services using FSS procedures and hence that all services were required to be within the scope of the vendor's (or its subcontractors') FSS contract(s). 2. Where protester failed to specify in its quotation that it would be using a subcontractor to provide services not included in its own FSS contract, agency properly rejected quotation on the basis that protester's FSS contract did not include all requested services. DECISION Altos Federal Group, Inc. protests the rejection of its quotation and the issuance of a task order to InteliStaf Healthcare, Inc., under request for quotations (RFQ) No. 673-90F-04-003A, issued by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for nursing services at the Wilford Hall Medical Treatment Facility, Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas. Altos contends that the agency improperly evaluated its quotation on the basis of criteria not set forth in the RFQ. We deny the protest. The RFQ contemplated the issuance of a fixed-price indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity task order to a Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) contractor for a 1year base period and up to 4 option years. The solicitation schedule identified 35categories of required nursing services by FSS and special item number (SIN) ( e.g. , Schedule No. 621, SIN 025c), [2] description ( e.g. , RN (General Surgery Inpatient Unit)), estimated full-time equivalent, and estimated hours. Vendors were requested to furnish a unit cost per hour, a total cost, and an overtime rate for each category of services. The RFQ provided for award to the vendor whose quotation was determined most advantageous to the government, price and other factors (consisting of corporate qualifications, risk assessment, personnel, customer service, past performance, and subcontracting) considered. Thirteen vendors responded to the RFQ. Using the General Services Administration's (GSA) Advantage! website, the contracting officer reviewed each vendor's FSS contract to determine whether it listed all of the nursing service categories identified in the RFQ schedule. Based on his review, the contracting officer divided the quotations into three groups: group one consisted of quotations from vendors who had all of the categories listed on their FSS schedules (there were four quotations in this group); group two consisted of quotations from vendors who did not have all of the required items listed in their FSS contracts, but who could potentially be considered for multiple awards in the event that a source selection of group one could not be made for a single award at a reasonable price (there were seven quotations in this group); and group three consisted of vendors who did not meet the material requirements of the RFQ (there were two quotations, one of which was Altos's, in this group). Contracting Officer's Narrative Statement at 2. The contracting officer concluded that Altos's quotation did not meet the material requirements of the RFQ because the information available on the GSA Advantage! website indicated that Altos did not have the SINs corresponding to over 75 percent of the required work on its FSS contract. An evaluation panel convened, evaluated the group one quotations, and selected InteliStaf's quotation. On May 19, the agency notified InteliStaf of the selection of its quotation, in a total estimated amount of53,949,240. Altos protested to our Office on May 25. The agency initially instructed InteliStaf to suspend performance on the order, but subsequently overrode the stay of performance and notified InteliStaf to proceed. On June 1, Altos filed suit in the U.S.