B-296847, Chapman Law Firm Company, LPA, September 28, 2005

B-296847 Sep 28, 2005 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Chapman Law Firm Company, LPA protests the Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) sole-source award of a "bridge contract" to Michaelson, Conner and Boul, Inc. (MCB) under request for proposals (RFP) No. R-PHI-00947, for single family home management and marketing (M & M) services. Chapman primarily alleges that the sole-source award was necessitated solely by a lack of advance planning by the agency, and therefore is improper. We deny the protest. View Decision B-296847, Chapman Law Firm Company, LPA, September 28, 2005 Decision Matter of: Chapman Law Firm Company, LPA File: B-296847 Date: September 28, 2005 James S. DelSordo, Esq., Cohen Mohr LLP, for the protester. Margaret A. Dillenburg, Esq., for Michaelson, Conner and Boul, Inc., an intervenor. R. Rene Dupuy, Esq., Department of Housing and Urban Development, for the agency. Peter D. Verchinski, Esq., and John M. Melody, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Protest that agency improperly awarded –bridge contract— on sole-source basis is denied where award of long-term contract for same services was delayed by litigation and agency reasonably determined that only incumbent contractor was in a position to perform the services. DECISION Chapman Law Firm Company, LPA protests the Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) sole-source award of a –bridge contract— to Michaelson, Conner and Boul, Inc. (MCB) under request for proposals (RFP) No. R-PHI-00947, for single family home management and marketing (M & M) services.[1] Chapman primarily alleges that the sole-source award was necessitated solely by a lack of advance planning by the agency, and therefore is improper. We deny the protest. On August 6, 2003, HUD issued an RFP for M & M services for single family homes throughout the United States. The RFP sought to award 24 indefinite'delivery, indefinite-quantity contracts, each covering a different region of the country. The protest here concerns one of these contracts, for properties in Ohio and Michigan, which was awarded to Greenleaf Construction Company, Inc. on April 19, 2005. Chapman timely protested that award to our Office on May 2 (B-293105.15). In response to the protest, the agency issued a stay of contract performance. The stay resulted in continued performance by MCB, the incumbent, and prevented Greenleaf from beginning the transition period under its contract that was ultimately to lead to full contract performance. MCB, meanwhile, continued to perform in accordance with its contract, which provided for a transition period that was to end on June 29. On June 14, HUD published a presolicitation notice on the FedBizOpps website stating that it intended to negotiate with only one source (or a limited number of sources) in order to award MCB a short-term contract for the M & M services at issue. This contract was to be a 4-month bridge contract, with two 4'month option periods and a 60-day transition period. In order to justify the lack of full and open competition, the notice cited Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) sect. 6.302-1, which allows an agency to limit competition when there is only one responsible source that will satisfy its requirements. The notice also stated that the government would consider all proposals received within 10 days of publication to determine whether a competitive procurement was called for. On the same day, the agency prepared a written justification and approval (J & A) justifying the sole-source award on the basis that the short time frame before MCB's transition period expired did not permit a competition, an immediate need existed for these services--due to the stay in place at the time--and MCB was the only company that could fully provide the services without a transition period. Agency Report, Tab 3, at 3'4. By letter dated June 17, HUD announced that it would take corrective action in response to Chapman's GAO protest. The proposed corrective action would consist of terminating the contract awarded to Greenleaf, and awarding a contract to Chapman. We dismissed the protest as academic on June 22. Also on June 17, Chapman responded to the presolicitation notice for the bridge contract with the same proposal it had submitted in response to the original RFP, together with a cover letter that acknowledged the time frame for the bridge contract. On June 30, HUD informed Chapman that it had determined that the proposal did not demonstrate a readiness to provide the required services without the need for a transition period, and that it had determined that only MCB was able to perform these services immediately.[2] On July 1, the agency awarded the bridge contract to MCB. Also on July 1, Greenleaf challenged the agency's proposed corrective action in a complaint filed in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.