Manassas Travel, Inc., B-294867.3, May 3, 2005

B-294867.3 May 03, 2005 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Manassas Travel, Inc. protests the Department of the Army's award of a contract to Alexander Travel Ltd. under request for proposals (RFP) No. W91QUZ-04-R-0007, for official travel management and related additional services. We deny the protest. View Decision B-294867.3, Manassas Travel, Inc., May 3, 2005 DOCUMENT FOR PUBLIC RELEASE The decision issued on the date below was subject to a GAO Protective Order. This redacted version has been approved for public release. Decision Matter of: Manassas Travel, Inc. File: B-294867.3 Date: May 3, 2005 Barry Roberts, Esq., for the protester. John N. Maher, Esq., Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw LLP, for Alexander Travel Ltd., an intervenor. Maj. Frank A. March, Department of the Army, for the agency. Katherine I. Riback, Esq., and James A. Spangenberg, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Agency reasonably made award based upon higher-priced proposal with an inferior performance risk rating because of the higher rating of the awardee's proposal, and the specific strengths supporting that rating, under most heavily-weighted technical factor; during hearing GAO considered agency's credible explanation of the strengths, which was consistent with contemporaneous record. DECISION Manassas Travel, Inc. protests the Department of the Army's award of a contract to Alexander Travel Ltd. under request for proposals (RFP) No. W91QUZ-04-R-0007, for official travel management and related additional services. We deny the protest. The RFP, issued February 13, 2004, contemplated the award of six fixed-price contracts, each for a base period of 2 years, with three 1-year options, to provide official travel management and related additional services on a point-of-sale basis for recruits, from Military Entrance Processing Station (MEPS) locations in six travel areas (101 through 105) to the recruits' initial post, camp, or installation to undergo recruit training. A MEPS is a location where military recruits from all of the military branches report for their initial medical examination, and administration of the oath. This protest concerns the award of the contract for Travel Area 103 to Alexander Travel, Inc. [1] Proposals were initially subject to an initial "go/no go" evaluation for the passenger name record (PNR) data validation with the Defense Travel System. The determination of the most advantageous proposal for each travel area was to be based on three evaluation factors: technical, performance risk, and price. The technical factor was more important than the price factor, the price factor was more important than the performance risk factor, and the technical and performance risk factors, when combined, were significantly more important than the price factor. Award was to be made on a "best value" basis. The Army received nine proposals for Travel Area 103, including those of Manassas Travel and Alexander Travel. All offerors submitting proposals for Travel Area 103 successfully completed the PNR data validation process. Following written discussions, eight final proposal revisions were received. Manassas Travel's proposal received a "good" technical rating and a "very low" performance risk rating, and offered a total evaluated price of [DELETED]. Alexander Travel's proposal received an "outstanding" technical rating and a "low" performance risk rating, and offered a total evaluated price of1,436,663.94. Based on Alexander Travel's proposal's "outstanding" rating under the most important factor, and the particular strengths that supported this rating, the agency determined that Alexander Travel's proposal represented the overall best value to the government, even though its evaluated price was higher than that of Manassas Travel and its performance risk rating was inferior to Manassas Travel's "very low" rating. In the Source Selection Document, the agency identified the two most significant technical strengths in the Alexander Travel proposal that led to its "outstanding" technical rating and the award selection: a customized on-line MEPS transportation application and an automated Centrally Billed Account (CBA) reconciliation product (called ReconPlus). The agency awarded the contract to Alexander Travel on January 28, 2005.