B-295911; B-295911.2, Public Facility Consortium I, LLC; JDL Castle Corporation, May 4, 2005

B-295911; B-295911.2, Public Facility Consortium I, LLC; JDL Castle Corporation, May 4, 2005 TITLE: B-295911; B-295911.2, Public Facility Consortium I, LLC; JDL Castle Corporation, May 4, 2005 BNUMBER: B-295911; B-295911.2 DATE: May 4, 2005 ******************************************************************************************** B-295911; B-295911.2, Public Facility Consortium I, LLC; JDL Castle Corporation, May 4, 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: Public Facility Consortium I, LLC; JDL Castle Corporation File: B-295911; B-295911.2 Date: May 4, 2005 Richard L. Moorhouse, Esq., Dorn C. McGrath III, Esq., David T. Hickey, Esq., and Pang Khou Yang, Esq., Greenberg Traurig LLP, for Public Facility Consortium I, LLC; Victor G. Klingelhofer, Esq., Andrew J. Mohr, Esq., David S. Cohen, Esq., and Catherine K. Kroll, Esq., Cohen Mohr, LLP, for JDL Castle Corporation, the protesters. James H. Roberts, III, Esq., and Carrol H. Kinsey Jr., Esq., Van Scoyoc Kelly PLLC, for Damon Harwood Company, Inc., the intervenor. Harry E. Hamilton, Esq., and Robert J. McCall, Esq., General Services Administration Service, for the agency. Paula A. Williams, Esq., and Michael R. Golden, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST 1. Evidence of compliance with zoning laws relates to ability of successful offeror to perform, rather than whether offer is acceptable and, therefore, is a matter of responsibility. 2. A definitive responsibility criterion is established where solicitation requires specific zoning so that requirement itself is an aspect of contract work; thus, general requirement for zoning approval does not constitute definitive responsibility criterion. 3. Allegation that contracting officer improperly made affirmative determination of responsibility does not raise serious concern that contracting officer failed to consider available relevant information where record shows, contrary to the protesters' assertions, that contracting officer did not ignore or disregard any available relevant information in making his responsibility determination. DECISION Public Facility Consortium I, LLC (PFC) and JDL Castle Corporation protest the award of a lease to Damon Harwood Company, Inc. under solicitation for offers (SFO) No. 2VA0401, issued by the General Services Administration (GSA) for the lease of a building to be constructed for use by the Social Security Administration (SSA) in Roanoke, Virginia. The protesters both assert that the award was improper because Harwood's offered site was not compliant with the solicitation's zoning requirements. We deny the protests. As amended, the SFO anticipated the award of a 10-year lease for approximately 67,314 rentable square feet of office and related space to the offeror that submitted the offer found to be most advantageous to the government considering price and non-price evaluation factors, which were approximately equal in weight. The SFO advised that price could become more important than the non-price evaluation factors as the offers became more technically equivalent. SFO, amend. 2, sect. 3.0. As it relates to these protests, the SFO, in a section entitled "Evidence of Capability to Perform," stated that offerors must submit with their initial offers evidence of "[c]ompliance with local zoning laws or evidence of variances, if any, approved by the proper local authority." SFO sect. 3.16.A.4. This section was entirely separate from the section identifying the evaluation factors and basis for award. Twelve firms submitted offers in response to the SFO by the extended closing date. The offers were evaluated, discussions were conducted, and best and final offers were requested, received, and evaluated. The agency found that the offers submitted by Harwood and JDL were technically equivalent and determined that Harwood's offer was most advantageous to the government in that it offered the lowest price. Subsequently, the agency awarded the lease to Harwood. Contracting Officer's (CO) Statement of Facts at 2. PFC and JDL argue that it was a material SFO requirement that each offeror submit with its initial offer evidence that the offered site was properly zoned and, therefore, capable of being leased by the agency.