Madison Research Corporation, B-295716, April 25, 2005

B-295716 Apr 25, 2005 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Madison Research Corporation (MRC) protests the award of a contract to COLSA Corporation under request for proposals (RFP) No. FA9200-05-R-0002, issued by the Department of the Air Force for the Technical and Acquisition Management Support (TAMS 3) contract at Eglin Air Force Base (AFB), Florida. The protester argues that the agency improperly revised COLSA's initial past performance rating and misevaluated offerors' technical and cost proposals, and that COLSA engaged in an improper "bait and switch" scheme by proposing an individual for a key personnel position who resigned after contract award. We deny the protest. View Decision B-295716, Madison Research Corporation, April 25, 2005 Decision Matter of: Madison Research Corporation File: B-295716 Date: April 25, 2005 Thomas J. Madden, Esq., and Sharon A. Jenks, Esq., Venable LLP, and J. Andrew Watson, III, Esq., and Rosalind Greene, Esq., Balch & Bingham LLP, for the protester. Mark Colley, Esq., and Kara Daniels, Esq., Holland & Knight LLP, and John J. Callahan, Esq., Richardson Callahan LLP, for COLSA Corporation, an intervenor. Clarence D. Long, III, Esq., Michael J. O'Farrell, Jr., Esq., William Landsberg, Esq., and Lawrence Anderson, Esq., Department of the Air Force, for the agency. Jonathan L. Kang, Esq., and Michael R. Golden, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST 1. Protest challenging revision of awardee's past performance score is denied where agency reasonably explains basis for change to initial scoring. 2. Protest alleging "bait and switch" of awardee's proposed key personnel is denied where the record does not support allegation--the proposed individual was initially performing the work, but subsequently resigned. 3. Protest challenging evaluation of offerors' technical and cost proposals is denied where agency reasonably evaluated offerors' proposals. DECISION Madison Research Corporation (MRC) protests the award of a contract to COLSA Corporation under request for proposals (RFP) No. FA9200-05-R-0002, issued by the Department of the Air Force for the Technical and Acquisition Management Support (TAMS 3) contract at Eglin Air Force Base (AFB), Florida. The protester argues that the agency improperly revised COLSA's initial past performance rating and misevaluated offerors' technical and cost proposals, and that COLSA engaged in an improper "bait and switch" scheme by proposing an individual for a key personnel position who resigned after contract award. We deny the protest. BACKGROUND The RFP was issued on June 10, 2004 and anticipated award of two cost-reimbursement (with cost-plus-award-fee line items) indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contracts. The RFP sought proposals to provide assistance to the agency workforce in the research, development, acquisition, testing and maintenance of aircraft and munitions systems at Eglin AFB and other locations. The RFP was a small business set-aside, and the agency stated that it intended to award one contract to an offeror who was a participant in the Small Business Administration's 8(a) program, and a second, non-8(a) contract to either one of the remaining 8(a) offerors or a non-8(a) small business offeror. The base performance period for the contracts is 1 year, with four 1-year option periods. The RFP stated that the agency would "select the best overall offeror(s), based on an integrated assessment of Past Performance, Mission Capability, Proposal Risk, and Price/Cost." RFP, at M-1, 1.1. The past performance factor was the most important, followed by mission capability and proposal risk, which were equally important, with price/cost the least important factor. Id. 2.1. The mission capability factor had six subfactors, listed in descending order of importance: overall TAMS management; workforce hiring, training and retention; access to information/organizational conflicts of interest (OCI); transition and facilities management; task orders; and cost management. Id. Based on the final evaluation results, the source selection authority (SSA) selected Business Technologies and Solutions, Inc. (BTAS) for the 8(a) award, and COLSA for the non-8(a) award.