AIA-Todini-Lotos, B-294337, October 15, 2004

B-294337 Oct 15, 2004 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights AIA-Todini-Lotos (ATL) protests the award of a contract under request for proposals (RFP) No. N33191-02-R-1078, issued by the Department of the Navy, Naval Facilities Engineering Command to the Cooperative Muratori e Cementisi-C.M.C. di Ravenna (CMC) for construction of the MEGA 4 project at the Naval Support Activity, Sigonella, Italy. ATL challenges the Navy's evaluation of its proposal and the source selection decision. We deny the protest. View Decision B-294337, AIA-Todini-Lotos, October 15, 2004 Decision Matter of: AIA-Todini-Lotos File: B-294337 Date: October 15, 2004 Michael A. Lewis, Esq., Braude & Margulies, for the protester. Damon Martin, Esq., Department of the Navy, for the agency. Jonathan L. Kang, Esq., and Michael R. Golden, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Protest challenging agencys evaluation of protesters joint venture proposal is denied where agency (1) reasonably identified risk based on the new joint venture partners lack of experience working together; (2) reasonably identified risk consistent with the evaluation criteria concerning lack of coordinated oversight among the joint venture partners; and (3) reasonably disregarded two of protesters alternative construction schedules that did not follow the critical path method prescribed in the solicitation. Record does not indicate whether agency adequately considered protesters third early completion schedule; however, even maximum credit for that schedule would not sufficiently raise protesters score to establish prejudice. DECISION AIA-Todini-Lotos (ATL) protests the award of a contract under request for proposals (RFP) No. N33191-02-R-1078, issued by the Department of the Navy, Naval Facilities Engineering Command to the Cooperative Muratori e Cementisi-C.M.C. di Ravenna (CMC) for construction of the MEGA 4 project at the Naval Support Activity, Sigonella, Italy. ATL challenges the Navys evaluation of its proposal and the source selection decision. We deny the protest. BACKGROUND The RFP was issued on May 6, 2004 and contemplated the award of a fixed-price contract for construction of a new elementary and high school facility, temporary classrooms, a base operations support building, and a public works administration building, and for demolition of existing facilities. The RFP identified the following four technical evaluation factors: (1) organizational experience; (2) organizational past performance; (3) engineering-construction plan (ECP); and (4) schedule. RFP amend. 2, 202, at 1.1--1.3. The technical evaluation factors were equal in importance and together were approximately equal to price. Available ratings for the technical evaluation factors were excellent, good, satisfactory, marginal, and poor. Award was to be made to the offeror who provided the best value to the government. The RFP advised offerors that an acceptable proposal with the lowest price may not be selected if award to a higher-priced proposal affords the Government a greater overall benefit. Id. at 1.1. The RFP also advised that the agency intended to award without discussions. The agency timely received four technical proposals (a fifth was rejected as untimely), including proposals from ATL and CMC. ATL is a joint venture formed by three construction companies, Todini Costruzioni Generali S.p.A., A.I.A. Costruzioni Generali S.p.A., and Lotos S.r.l. CMC is a single-entity offeror. The technical evaluation panel (TEB) reviewed offerors past performance and experience references and developed technical ratings for all evaluation factors. The TEB ranked the offerors, finding CMC excellent and ranked first overall and ATL satisfactory and ranked second overall. Agency Report (AR), Tab 5, TEB Report, at 4. The price evaluation board (PEB) reviewed offerors price proposals, conducted a price analysis, and compared offerors prices to the government estimate. AR, Tab 6, PEB Report, at 2-4. The PEB found both CMCs and ATLs prices to be reasonable. ATL was the overall low-priced offeror and CMC was the second low-priced offeror. Id. The source selection board (SSB) then reviewed the technical and price evaluations to select the proposal which offered the best value to the government. As relevant here, the overall ratings and prices of the protester and awardee were as follows: CMC ATL Evaluated Price [1] 67,199,147.80 62,965,402.69 Overall Technical Excellent Satisfactory 1. Organizational Experience Excellent Satisfactory 2. Organizational Past Performance Excellent Good 3. Engineering-Construction Plan Excellent Satisfactory 4.