Spherix, Inc., B-294572; B-294572.2, December 1, 2004

Spherix, Inc., B-294572; B-294572.2, December 1, 2004 TITLE: Spherix, Inc., B-294572; B-294572.2, December 1, 2004 BNUMBER: B-294572; B-294572.2 DATE: December 1, 2004 ********************************************************************** Decision Matter of: Spherix, Inc. File: B-294572; B-294572.2 Date: December 1, 2004 Eric J. Marcotte, Esq., Nathan C. Guerrero, Esq., and Scott A. Schipma, Esq., Winston & Strawn, for the protester. Robert S. Metzger, Esq., Michael K. Murphy, Esq., Mary Ita Snyder, Esq., and Keith R. Szeliga, Esq., Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, for ReserveAmerica NY, Inc., the intervenor. Daniel N. Hylton, Esq., Department of Agriculture, for the agency. Henry J. Gorczycki, Esq., and Guy R. Pietrovito, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST 1. Protest challenging an agency's evaluation and source selection decision that found the awardee's staffing and proposed marketing approach to be significant proposal strengths and discriminators in the selection decision is sustained, where the protester and awardee both addressed staffing and marketing approach, though not specifically requested by the solicitation, and the agency did not fairly consider the protester's similar proposed staffing and marketing approach. 2. Where the agency's evaluation identified significant weaknesses in the protester's proposal, but failed to identify them for the offeror during discussions, discussions were not meaningful. DECISION Spherix, Inc. protests the award of a contract to ReserveAmerica NY, Inc. under request for proposals (RFP) No. WO-04-06VM, issued by the Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, for the National Recreation Reservation Service (NRRS). Spherix challenges the agency's conduct of discussions, evaluation of proposals, and source selection decision. We sustain the protest. BACKGROUND Federal agencies and private concessionaires or lessees currently operate and maintain recreational facilities and activities for public uses; these facilities and activities are located on federal lands, National Recreation areas, Wilderness areas, water resource development projects, historic sites, and National Monuments. RFP S C, at 201.[1] Previously, the National Park Service operated the National Park Reservation Service (NPRS) to provide reservation and management services for National Park Service facilities; Spherix was the incumbent contractor for the NPRS. Id. at 202; Agency Report (AR), Tab 96, Spherix Project Agreement Response, at 1,908. The Forest Service, in partnership with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Land Management, operated the NRRS, providing reservation services for other federal facilities and activities at 1,987 field locations; ReserveAmerica was the incumbent contractor for NRRS. RFP S C, at 202; AR, Tab 76, ReserveAmerica Project Agreement Response, at 967. These systems operated independently. Contractor Officer's Statement at 1. As part of an "E-Government Initiative," the government seeks to consolidate its reservation systems for all federal parks and recreation facilities and activities into the NRRS with the goal of providing "one-stop" reservation shopping. Contracting Officer's Statement at 1; AR, Tab 5, NRRS Acquisition Plan, at 39. To accomplish this, the RFP provides for the award of a contract for the development, provision, and operation of a state-of-the-art reservation system with a web-based portal that would include multiple sales channels (telephone call center, Internet, and walk-up[2]), providing "one-stop" reservation shopping directly to the public for camping, tours, tickets, permits, activities, and recreation-related sales, as well as providing general recreation and trip planning information about all federal recreation areas. The system would also provide administrative and field personnel of federal land management agencies with the ability to access and manage reservation and recreation information. RFP S C, at 197-201, S M, at 332-34. Offerors were informed that the contract would be funded primarily by fees, such as reservation fees, service fees, and use fees, collected from the public. RFP S C, at 200. In accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) S 15.202, the Forest Service established a two-step advisory process for this acquisition. The first step--the Project Agreement--sought capability information, such as past performance information, from potential offerors to allow the agency to advise those firms about their potential to be viable competitors under the RFP. Of the ten firms submitting capability information, only three firms, including Spherix and ReserveAmerica, were invited to participate under the second step--the RFP.