AHNTECH, Inc., B-295973, May 11, 2005

B-295973 May 11, 2005 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights AHNTECH, Inc. protests the rejection of its proposal and the award of a contract to MPRI under request for proposals (RFP) No. W27P4C-05-R-X1408, issued by the Department of the Army, Joint Contracting Command-Iraq, for maintenance and operation of the Army's Butler Range Complex in Iraq. Specifically, the protester takes issue with the agency's evaluation of its operations plan as a "no-go." We deny the protest. View Decision B-295973, AHNTECH, Inc., May 11, 2005 Decision Matter of: AHNTECH, Inc. File: B-295973 Date: May 11, 2005 Sam Ahn for the protester. Capt. Geraldine Chanel, Department of the Army, 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 reasonably regarded protester's approach to staffing as a weakness where proposal implied that protester intended to do most of its hiring from the incumbent workforce, but protester offered no evidence that incumbent employees could be expected to accept its offer of employment and protester failed to propose an alternative approach to hiring in the event of the unavailability of the incumbent employees. 2. Protest of technical evaluation of proposal is denied where agency offered explanation for its findings that was supported by the record, and protester failed to offer any meaningful rebuttal. DECISION AHNTECH, Inc. protests the rejection of its proposal and the award of a contract to MPRI under request for proposals (RFP) No. W27P4C-05-R-X1408, issued by the Department of the Army, Joint Contracting Command-Iraq, for maintenance and operation of the Army's Butler Range Complex in Iraq. Specifically, the protester takes issue with the agency's evaluation of its operations plan as a "no-go." We deny the protest. The solicitation, which was issued on December 13, 2004, sought a contractor to operate and maintain both the ranges and the life support area (LSA) of the range complex. The RFP contemplated the award of a fixed-price contract for a base and 2 option years to the offeror whose proposal was considered most advantageous to the government, price and other factors considered. Factors to be considered in the evaluation of proposals were relevant past performance, operations plan (technical proposal), quality control plan, and price. The RFP instructed offerors that their operations plans should explain how they would manage and operate their services in the Iraqi theater of operations; in addition, the plans were to identify the individuals who would be working and maintaining the range and furnish information regarding their training, certifications, and experience. The solicitation provided that the plans would be evaluated to assess offerors' understanding of the solicitation's requirements and to determine whether the offeror's approach was achievable within the offeror's proposed price. The solicitation further provided that the operations plans would be evaluated on a go/no-go basis and that if a plan were rated as a no-go, the offeror's proposal would no longer be evaluated for award and would be eliminated from the competition. RFP at 43. Three proposals were submitted in response to the RFP. The agency evaluators rated AHNTECH's operations plan as a "no-go" and eliminated the protester's proposal from the competition. MPRI's proposal was subsequently selected for award. After requesting and receiving a debriefing, AHNTECH protested to our Office. [1] At AHNTECH's debriefing, the agency cited the following weaknesses/deficiencies in the protester's operations plan: The protester did not demonstrate the feasibility of its proposed approach to hire 85 percent of the incumbent workforce. AHNTECH failed to furnish letters of intent signed by the employees stating that they would be willing to work for AHNTECH if it were the successful offeror. The plan failed to address the management and maintenance of a number of ranges identified in the solicitation. The plan failed to address requirements pertaining to the maintenance and upkeep of the LSA, including the requirement for operation of the area 24hours a day, 7 days a week; the requirement that the contractor account for and maintain all U.S. government real property; and the requirement that the contractor maintain and repair facilities and equipment, including generators. The plan failed to identify the equipment necessary to perform LSA maintenance and the qualifications of personnel to maintain government-furnished equipment (GFE). Agency Report, Tab 21. In its protest, AHNTECH argued that the agency's criticisms were unfounded. In its report on the protest, the agency provided a detailed response to the challenges AHNTECH raised.