B-294980.5, Cooperativa Muratori Riuniti, July 27, 2005

B-294980.5 Jul 27, 2005 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Cooperativa Muratori Riuniti (CMR) protests the Department of the Navy's revision of request for proposals (RFP) No. N33191-04-R-4004, for construction of two facilities at Aviano Air Force Base in Italy. The agency revised the solicitation after we sustained a prior CMR protest objecting to award under the RFP to Impresa Pizzarotti & C. S.p.A. Cooperativa Muratori Riuniti, B-294980, B-294980.2, Jan. 21, 2005, 2005 CPD para. 21. CMR argues that the agency's revisions to the RFP are restrictive of competition and contrary to the corrective action that we recommended in our earlier decision. The protester also objects to the agency decision not to permit it to revise its schedule in its revised proposal. We sustain the protest in part and deny it in part. View Decision B-294980.5, Cooperativa Muratori Riuniti, July 27, 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: Cooperativa Muratori Riuniti File: B-294980.5 Date: July 27, 2005 Reed L. von Maur, Esq., for the protester. Susan L. Schor, Esq., and Laurence Schor, Esq., McManus, Schor, Asmar & Darden, LLP, for Impresa Pizzarotti & C. S.p.A., an intervenor. Damon Martin, Esq., Naval Facilities Engineering Command, for the agency. Jennifer D. Westfall-McGrail, Esq., and Christine S. Melody, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST 1. Agency did not act improperly by revising request for proposals and soliciting revised proposals prior to conducting reevaluation that Government Accountability Office recommended as corrective action in sustaining prior protest where solicitation revisions were reasonably based and offerors were given the opportunity to revise their proposals in response to them. 2. Where agency amends request for proposals after closing and permits offerors to submit revised proposals, it should permit offerors to revise aspects of their proposals that were not the subject of the amendment absent evidence that the amendment could not reasonably have any effect on other aspects of proposals, or that allowing such revisions would have a detrimental impact on the competitive process. DECISION Cooperativa Muratori Riuniti (CMR) protests the Department of the Navy's revision of request for proposals (RFP) No. N33191-04-R-4004, for construction of two facilities at Aviano Air Force Base in Italy. The agency revised the solicitation after we sustained a prior CMR protest objecting to award under the RFP to Impresa Pizzarotti & C. S.p.A. Cooperativa Muratori Riuniti, B-294980, B-294980.2, Jan. 21, 2005, 2005 CPD para. 21. CMR argues that the agency's revisions to the RFP are restrictive of competition and contrary to the corrective action that we recommended in our earlier decision. The protester also objects to the agency decision not to permit it to revise its schedule in its revised proposal. We sustain the protest in part and deny it in part. BACKGROUND The original RFP requested prices for seven line items: two for work associated with construction of a personnel alert holding area (line items 0001 and 0002) and five for work associated with construction of a heavy drop rigging facility (line items 0003-0007). The two facilities are to be constructed at separate sites approximately one-half mile apart, and work at the two sites is to be performed, at least in part, concurrently. The RFP provided for award on a –best value— basis, taking into account three equally-weighted technical evaluation factors (organizational experience, organizational past performance, and schedule) and price (which was to be approximately equivalent in weight to the technical factors combined). Proposals were to be rated overall and with regard to each evaluation factor as excellent, good, satisfactory, marginal, or poor. Six offerors, including CMR and Pizzarotti, responded to the RFP. The technical evaluation board (TEB) assigned Pizzarotti's proposal ratings of excellent under the past performance and schedule evaluation factors, and a rating of good under the organizational experience factor; overall, the TEB rated the proposal as excellent. The TEB rated CMR's proposal as good under the past performance and schedule factors, and satisfactory under the organizational experience factor, resulting in an overall technical rating of good. The other proposals received lower ratings. CMR's price was lower than Pizzarotti's, but the source selection board determined that the additional quality of Pizzarotti's proposal outweighed the price difference and selected it for award.