B-296616, Cattlemen's Meat Company, August 30, 2005

B-296616 Aug 30, 2005 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Cattlemens Meat Company protests the Department of the Air Forces decision to perform food services for the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps (AFROTC) in-house rather than award a contract to Cattlemens under request for proposals (RFP) No. FA4690-05-R-0021. We deny the protest. View Decision B-296616, Cattlemen's Meat Company, August 30, 2005 Decision Matter of: Cattlemen's Meat Company File: B-296616 Date: August 30, 2005 Joseph Dirik, Esq., Jenkens & Gilchrist, for the protester. Clarence D. Long, III, Esq., Department of the Air Force, for the agency. Charles W. Morrow, Esq., and James A. Spangenberg, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Protest of agency's cancellation of solicitation for food services to instead perform the services in-house is denied where the protester's price submitted in response to the solicitation significantly exceeded the government estimate, which has not been shown to be other than realistic and fair. DECISION Cattlemen's Meat Company protests the Department of the Air Force's decision to perform food services for the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps (AFROTC) in-house rather than award a contract to Cattlemen's under request for proposals (RFP) No. FA4690-05-R-0021. We deny the protest. This protest concerns the acquisition of food services for two units of AFROTC cadets at Ellsworth Air Force Base (AFB) , South Dakota. For the previous 2 years, the requirement for food services to accommodate congressionally-mandated field training of AFROTC cadets held at Ellsworth AFB each summer had been provided in'house by the Air Force's 28th SVS (Services) Squadron at the base's Bandit Dining Facility, or alternatively, in an –overflow situation,— at the base's officer's club, the Dakota's, a nonappropriated fund instrumentality (NAFI). In 2005, the Air Force required food services for three encampments of AFROTC cadets, with the first encampment scheduled for May 19, the second scheduled for June 22, and the third scheduled for July 28. To satisfy the requirement, the Air Force decided to contract with the Dakota's. On March 15, the Air Force published a notice of intent to award a food services contract on a sole-source basis to the Dakota's on the FedBizOpps (Federal Business Opportunities) Internet site. Cattlemen's protested the Air Force's decision to award a contract on a sole-source basis to the Dakota's rather than compete the requirement with commercial sources. To settle the protest, the Air Force agreed to conduct a competitive procurement for the second and third encampments, and provide Cattlemen's with the opportunity to compete for the requirement. As a result, on May 25, this RFP was issued for the two remaining encampments in 2005 as a commercial item acquisition pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation Part 12. In addition to requiring the contractor to provide a facility, equipment, personnel, supervision, and other items, and services necessary to provide the meals, and to meet certain quality assurance standards, the RFP's statement of work required that the –Contractor shall provide a hardened facility to provide an eating area for the Cadets.— RFP, Statement of Work, at 7. The stated basis for award under the RFP was price. Since Cattlemen's was the only respondent to the FedBizOpps notice, and because the requirement was imminent, the Air Force only solicited Cattlemen's to submit a proposal in response to the RFP.[1] On June 7, Cattlemen's submitted a proposal to provide food services, at a cost of $571,638.60. The government estimate was $375,829.50, which represented a per-meal cost of $13.25 per day for meals served in the dining facility and $6 per day for MREs (meals ready to eat) served in the field plus $35,500 for a –hardened— facility. Because the protester's proposal price substantially exceeded the government estimate and available funding, the Air Force decided to again obtain AFROTC food services in-house from the 28th SVS squadron, rather than contracting commercially or with the Dakota's. The RFP was canceled and the AFROTC entered into a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the 28th SVS Squadron to provide these services at the same rate contained in the government estimate of $13.25 per person per day for serving in the facility and $6 per day for MREs. This protest from Cattlemen's followed. Cattlemen's challenges the Air Force's determination to obtain AFROTC meals in'house, asserting that the Air Force improperly evaluated its price against a flawed estimate of the government's costs.