RDAS Corporation, B-294848, December 23, 2004

B-294848 Dec 23, 2004 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights RDAS Corporation protests the decision of the Department of the Army not to fund its phase II proposal under Department of Defense (DOD) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program solicitation No. FY03.2. RDAS asserts that the agency made errors in the evaluation of its proposal. We deny the protest. View Decision B-294848, RDAS Corporation, December 23, 2004 Decision Matter of: RDAS Corporation File: B-294848 Date: December 23, 2004 Augustus H. Green, Jr., for the protester. Victor G. Vogel, Esq., U.S. Army Materiel Command, for the agency. Scott H. Riback, Esq., and John M. Melody, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Protest that agency improperly did not choose to fund protester's phase II Small Business Innovation Research proposal is denied where record shows agency had concerns relating to protester's proposed approach, and protester does not explain or demonstrate why agency's concerns were not well founded. DECISION RDAS Corporation protests the decision of the Department of the Army not to fund its phase II proposal under Department of Defense (DOD) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program solicitation No. FY03.2. RDAS asserts that the agency made errors in the evaluation of its proposal. We deny the protest. The SBIR program is conducted pursuant to the Small Business Innovation Development Act, 15 U.S.C. 638 (2000), which requires certain federal agencies to reserve a portion of their research and development funds for awards to small businesses. As part of its SBIR program, DOD issues an SBIR solicitation twice a year listing the research topics for which it will consider SBIR program admission. Firms first apply for a 6-month phase I award to test the scientific, technical, and commercial merit and feasibility of a certain concept. If phase I is successful, the firm may be invited to apply for a phase II award to further develop the concept. After the completion of phase II, firms are expected to obtain funding from the private sector and/or non-SBIR government sources to develop the concept into a product for sale in private sector and/or military markets. See DOD's SBIR Website, http://www.acq.osd.mil/sadbu/sbir/overview/index.htm . The solicitation included Army topic A03-139, entitled "Robust Alignment Concepts for Precision Guided Weapons." Previously, the agency had awarded two phase I awards, one to the protester, and one to Continental Controls and Design, Inc. (CCDI). Both firms were asked to submit phase II proposals, which the solicitation advised would be evaluated using the following criteria: (a) The soundness, technical merit, and innovation of the proposed approach and its incremental progress toward topic or subtopic solution. (b) The qualifications of the proposed principal/key investigators, supporting staff, and consultants. . . . (c) The potential for commercial (Government or private sector) application and the benefits expected to accrue from this commercialization. RFP at 10. Both firms submitted phase II proposals that were subjected to a two-tiered evaluation process. First, the proposals were evaluated by the cognizant Army laboratory or center that had written the topic (in this case, the Army Aviation & Missile Research and Development Center). The protester's proposal was assigned a score of 95 (out of a possible 100) points, while the CCDI proposal was assigned a score of 97 points. Agency Report (AR), exhs. N, O. Thereafter, the proposals were forwarded to a panel of Army Technology Area Chiefs (TAC), who are responsible for making the final selection from among all of the Army SBIR proposals. In this regard, the TACs take into consideration a number of factors, including the results of the first tier evaluations, their own assessment of the merits of a proposal, whether the proposal meets an Army requirement, whether the proposed work would duplicate other ongoing Army or DOD efforts, and overall SBIR program balance. The TAC selected CCDI's proposal for funding, and not the protester's. AR, exh. R. RDAS asserts that the agency misevaluated its proposal and made an incorrect finding that led, ultimately, to the decision not to fund its proposal. Specifically, RDAS asserts that the agency improperly concluded that its proposal did not identify an application for its proposed product, which is a method for determining misalignment between target sensors and precision guided weapons. According to the protester, it did in fact identify two current weapons programs--the non-line-of-site launcher system (NLOS-LS) and the joint common missile (JCM)--to which its product does have application.