Armed Forces Merchandise Outlet, Inc., B-294281, October 12, 2004

B-294281 Oct 12, 2004 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Armed Forces Merchandise Outlet, Inc. (AFMO) protests the U.S. Army Materiel Commands (AMC) issuance of a delivery order to KP Sports, Inc. under KP Sports General Services Administration (GSA), Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) contract, pursuant to request for quotations (RFQ) No.W91CRB-04-T-0142, for Wick Away Sports Bras. AFMO argues that the order to KP Sports was improper because it was outside of the scope of KP Sports GSA schedule contract, and contrary to the terms of the solicitation. We sustain the protest. View Decision B-294281, Armed Forces Merchandise Outlet, Inc., October 12, 2004 Decision Matter of: Armed Forces Merchandise Outlet, Inc. File: B-294281 Date: October 12, 2004 Anne B. Perry, Esq., Jonathan S. Aronie, Esq., Louis D. Victorino, Esq., and Jaime H. Weinberg, Esq., Sheppard, Mullin, Richter, & Hampton, for the protester. Vera Meza, Esq., and David H. Scott, Esq., U.S. Army Materiel Command, for the agency. Katherine I. Riback, Esq., and David A. Ashen, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Protest that contracting agencys issuance of a delivery order to a firm pursuant to its General Services Administration (GSA), Federal Supply Schedule contract was improper is sustained where the product to be furnished is outside of the scope of the firms GSA schedule contract and the agency unreasonably determined that the selected product met the solicitation specifications. DECISION Armed Forces Merchandise Outlet, Inc. (AFMO) protests the U.S. Army Materiel Commands (AMC) issuance of a delivery order to KP Sports, Inc. under KP Sports General Services Administration (GSA), Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) contract, pursuant to request for quotations (RFQ) No.W91CRB-04-T-0142, for Wick Away Sports Bras. AFMO argues that the order to KP Sports was improper because it was outside of the scope of KP Sports GSA schedule contract, and contrary to the terms of the solicitation. We sustain the protest. BACKGROUND The RFQ, issued on May 18, 2004, contemplated the award of a 36-month indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract under the terms and conditions of General Services Administration (GSA) contract (to be determined at the time of award), Schedule 078, Sports, Promotional, Outdoor, Recreation, Trophies and Signs (SPORTS). RFQ B.1. Likewise, participation under the RFQ was limited to contractors possessing GSA contracts under Schedule 078. RFQ B.4. The RFQ listed performance specifications, including requirements that the sports bra not have a tag (other than a blank identification tag heat-sealed onto the outside back of the garment), that sizing information be heat-sealed on the inside of the garment, and that the color of the bra was to be black. In addition, the RFQ for the sports bras specifically provided that [t]he shell material used in production shall consist of 82% Nylon, 18% Spandex. The entire garment shall be lined with a material consisting of 84% polyester and 16%spandex. RFQ Performance Specifications. Amendment 1, issued on May 20, revised the solicitation to request bid samples be provided along with descriptive literature in order to verify compliance with specifications. Amend. 1. As amended, the RFP required that [q]uotes shall include descriptive literature sufficiently detailed to demonstrate that the proposed items conform to the above performance requirements, as well as bid samples. Id. As amended, the solicitation provided for award to be made to the vendor whose quotation represented the best value based on two evaluation factors: technical and price. Technical was significantly more important than price. Contractors were cautioned that to receive consideration for award, a rating of no less than Acceptable must be achieved for the technical factor. Amend. 2. AMC received quotations from KP Sports, Tactical Gear Now, and a third contractor by the May 26 closing time. Following an inquiry by the contracting officer, it became clear that Tactical Gear Now did not possess the required GSA contract. On May 28, AFMO submitted a quotation for two different bras, signed by the same person who had submitted Tactical Gear Nows quotation and using the same company address, in which it cited AFMOs GSA contract and asked that its name be substituted for that of Tactical Gear Now. On that same date, AFMO also submitted two bid samples, along with a letter that stated as follows: Enclosed please find twopre-production samples to fulfill the above-referenced Request for Quotation number. Please note that these are sample room samples, not to exact specifications. On June 9, the agency evaluation board completed its evaluation of the samples.