B-296875, J.A. Farrington Janitorial Services, October 18, 2005

B-296875 Oct 18, 2005 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights J.A. Farrington Janitorial Services (JAF) protests the award of a contract to Roberts Treescaping, LLC (RTS) under request for proposals (RFP) No. FA2543-04-R-0003, issued by the Department of the Air Force for integrated grounds management at Buckley Air Force Base (AFB), Colorado. We sustain the protest. View Decision B-296875, J.A. Farrington Janitorial Services, October 18, 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: J.A. Farrington Janitorial Services File: B-296875 Date: October 18, 2005 Michael A. Gordon, Esq., and Fran Baskin, Esq., Holmes & Gordon, for the protester. Clarence D. Long III, Esq., and Bradford L. Buchanan, Esq., Department of the Air Force, for the agency. Katherine I. Riback, Esq., and James A. Spangenberg, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST 1. Agency's rejection of fixed-price proposal submitted by HUBZone small business because the price was determined unrealistically low was improper, where the solicitation contains no evaluation criterion pertaining to price realism or understanding; such a determination concerns the offeror's responsibility, i.e., the offeror's ability and capacity to successfully perform the contract at its offered price, and must be submitted to the Small Business Administration for a possible certificate of competency. 2. Agency determination that the protester's past performance was only entitled to a –confidence— rating was reasonable and gave appropriate consideration to the considerable relevant and successful past performance of protester's mentor and major subcontractor, where the protester had no relevant past performance. 3. Protest challenging the past performance evaluation of the awardee is sustained where the record fails to explain why the contracts, on which the past performance rating was based, were relevant, given their relatively low dollar value compared to the estimated dollar value of the solicited contract. DECISION J.A. Farrington Janitorial Services (JAF) protests the award of a contract to Roberts Treescaping, LLC (RTS) under request for proposals (RFP) No. FA2543-04-R-0003, issued by the Department of the Air Force for integrated grounds management at Buckley Air Force Base (AFB), Colorado. We sustain the protest. The RFP, issued on July 26, 2004 as a Small Business Historically Underutilized Business Zone (HUBZone) set-aside, contemplated the award of a fixed-price contract for a 2-month base period, four 1-year options, and a 10-month option, to the offeror whose proposal represented the –best value— to the government, price and past performance considered. The solicitation provided that –Past Performance is approximately equal to Price.— RFP amend. 3, at 177. The RFP also provided that –any offer could be rejected if it is unreasonable as to price.— Id.(emphasis supplied). The RFP provided that past performance was to be evaluated by making a –relevancy— determination of the offeror's present and past performance,[1] and then rating the past performance based on the following adjectival rating system: exceptional/high confidence, very good/significant confidence, satisfactory/ confidence, neutral/unknown confidence, marginal/little confidence, and unsatisfactory/no confidence. The RFP also provided, –In evaluating past performance, the Government reserves the right to give greater consideration to information on those contracts deemed most relevant to the effort described in this solicitation.— The solicitation also provided that –Past performance regarding predecessor companies, key personnel who have relevant experience, or sub-contractors that will perform major or critical aspects of the requirement will be rated as highly as past performance information for the principal offeror.— RFP amend. 3, at 176. Five offerors, including JAF and RTS--all HUBZone firms--submitted proposals prior to the September 9 closing date. JAF's –teaming partner— and major subcontractor was Joppa Maintenance Company, Inc., a large business and the incumbent contractor for Buckley AFB's grounds maintenance requirement, who, according to JAF's proposal, was to perform 49 percent of the work under the contract.[2] The agency issued several amendments, engaged in several rounds of discussions and requested two final proposal revisions (FPR) from the offerors. During discussions, JAF was repeatedly advised that the agency considered its price to be unrealistically low. In response to the agency's notices, JAF increased its pricing somewhat.