B-296972, Standard Communications, Inc., November 1, 2005

B-296972 Nov 01, 2005 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Standard Communications, Inc. (SCI) protests the award of a contract to dNovus RDI under request for proposals (RFP) No. FA4890-05-R-0156, issued by the Department of the Air Force as a total small business set-aside for Air Combat Command (ACC) Information Technology (IT) Enterprise Operations at Langley Air Force Base, Virginia. SCI challenges the technical and price evaluations of its proposal and the adequacy of discussions. We deny the protest. View Decision B-296972, Standard Communications, Inc., November 1, 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: Standard Communications, Inc. File: B-296972 Date: November 1, 2005 David M. Nadler, Esq., and Joseph R. Berger, Esq., Dickstein Shapiro Morin & Oshinsky LLP, for the protester. James J. Regan, Esq., and Daniel R. Forman, Esq., Crowell & Moring LLP, for dNovus RDI, an intervenor. Maj. Jeffrey Branstetter, and David L. Bell, Esq., Department of the Air Force, for the agency. Paul E. Jordan, Esq., and John M. Melody, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST 1. Agency reasonably did not evaluate protester's past performance as justifying high confidence rating, despite generally positive feedback from references, where protester's past contracts were reasonably found to be only partially relevant in size and scope to work to be performed in statement of work. 2. Agency reasonably evaluated protester's proposal's technical risk as high where its proposed labor rates and overall price were significantly below agency's independent estimate and reasonably were found to threaten its ability to hire and retain incumbent personnel. 3. Where protester's neutral past performance rating was not considered a significant weakness, and nature and ultimate relevance of protester's past performance submissions were clear, agency was not required to conduct discussions on past performance. 4. Price-technical tradeoff was reasonable where source selection official identified technical distinctions between competing proposals and specifically determined that higher technically rated proposal represented best value despite higher cost. DECISION Standard Communications, Inc. (SCI) protests the award of a contract to dNovus RDI under request for proposals (RFP) No. FA4890-05-R-0156, issued by the Department of the Air Force as a total small business set-aside for Air Combat Command (ACC) Information Technology (IT) Enterprise Operations at Langley Air Force Base, Virginia. SCI challenges the technical and price evaluations of its proposal and the adequacy of discussions. We deny the protest. The RFP contemplated the award of a fixed-price labor-hours contract under the General Services Administration (GSA) Federal Supply Schedule for a 6-month base period, with 4 option years, in support of the 83d Communications Squadron. The Squadron is responsible for the operation, security, management, administration, and user help desk support for the ACC IT Enterprise, which includes 15 main operating bases, Air Force Special Operations command base support, several geographically separated units, and subordinate headquarters such as the Air Intelligence Agency. The current client base support was estimated at more than 100,000 personnel and 67,000 workstations, and was expected to grow to include other tenants and organizations. Major efforts supported by the contract include engineering and technical support, network operations crew positions, ACC circuit management office support, and special maintenance support. The RFP included a 28-page statement of work (SOW) that set forth a detailed listing of tasks, minimum qualifications of personnel, and deliverables. The RFP also identified the estimated number of hours for each task, for which offerors were to propose fixed, burdened labor rates. Proposals were to be evaluated on a –best value— basis considering four factors--mission capability, which was equal in importance to past performance, risk (less important), and price (least important). Mission capability was divided into two subfactors--program management and staffing plan (less important). These subfactors were to be rated on a color/adjectival basis, and past performance on a confidence level basis.[1] Risk associated with the two mission capability subfactors was to be rated as high, moderate, or low. Price was to be evaluated on the basis of whether it was unreasonably high or low in relation to the government's estimate, the offeror's technical approach, and other offerors' proposed prices. Eight offerors, including SCI and dNovus, submitted proposals, which were evaluated by the source selection evaluation team (SSET).