California Pacific Associates, B-294563, October 26, 2004

B-294563 Oct 26, 2004 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights California Pacific Associates (CalPac) protests the award of Defense Commissary Agency contracts to Tysons Fresh Meats, Inc. and Washington Beef, LLC, under request for proposals (RFP) No. HDEC02-04-R-0001, for the provision of fresh and frozen beef and pork products to United States military commissaries in Far East Asia and Guam. CalPac challenges the evaluation of its proposal. We deny the protest. View Decision B-294563, California Pacific Associates, October 26, 2004 Decision Matter of: California Pacific Associates File: B-294563 Date: October 26, 2004 Alan M. Grayson, Esq., Victor A. Kubli, Esq., and James A. McMillan, Esq., Grayson & Kubli, for the protester. Robert H. Koehler, Esq., Patton Boggs, for Washington Beef, LLC, and Harvey J. Nathan, Esq., Sidley Austin Brown & Wood, for Tysons Fresh Meats, Inc., intervenors. Elliot J. Clark, Esq., Defense Commissary Agency, for the agency. Sharon L Larkin, Esq., and Guy R. Pietrovito, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Protester's challenge to the evaluation of its proposal is denied, where record reflects that the agency reasonably evaluated proposal under the technical and past performance factors; the fact that protester is incumbent providing services to two of the four areas required by solicitation does not, in and of itself, require that protester be awarded maximum points under evaluation scheme. DECISION California Pacific Associates (CalPac) protests the award of Defense Commissary Agency contracts to Tysons Fresh Meats, Inc. and Washington Beef, LLC, under request for proposals (RFP) No. HDEC02-04-R-0001, for the provision of fresh and frozen beef and pork products to United States military commissaries in Far East Asia and Guam. CalPac challenges the evaluation of its proposal. We deny the protest. The RFP provided for a fixed-price award to service Guam and Korea and a fixedprice award to service Japan and Okinawa; each for a 1-year base period with two 1year options. The awards were to be made on a bestvalue basis, considering technical capability, past performance and price. The first two factors were equally weighted (worth 110 points each), and combined were equal in importance to price. The RFP identified four technical capability subfactors (experience, distribution plan, quality control, and logistical management support/transition approach) and four past performance subfactors (timeliness of deliveries, conformance with specification, customer satisfaction, and business relations). The first three technical and past performance subfactors were equally weighted, with the fourth stated to be "slightly less important" than the others. RFP at 51, 67. The RFP designated a distribution method of either "source loading" or "crossdocking" for each of the delivery areas. "Source loading," which is required for Guam, Korea, and Okinawa, means that pork and beef products are loaded into a container without being co-mingled with other products, and the container is not opened and product is not transferred until delivered to its overseas destination. "Cross-docking" contemplates the transfer of beef or pork from one container to another in order to combine several small orders to fill a container. For Japan, cross-docking is required for deliveries to Iwakuni, and either cross-docking or source loading can be used for the remaining Japanese destinations (Misawa, Yokota, Yokusuka, Sagamihara, and Atsugi). Source loading is required for Guam, Korea, and Okinawa. RFP, amend. 5, at 2. CalPac is the incumbent contractor currently servicing the Japan and Okinawa commissaries under a resale ordering agreement with different terms and conditions from that required by the RFP. Washington Beef is the incumbent contractor currently servicing the Guam and Korea commissaries under a similar resale ordering agreement. Both of these firms, and Tysons, responded to the RFP with proposals to service all four areas covered by the RFP. All proposals were found to be in the competitive range.