B-297207, Marine Industries NW, December 2, 2005

B-297207 Dec 02, 2005 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Marine Industries NW protests the rejection of its proposal and the award of contracts to three other offerors under request for proposals (RFP) No. N0040605R5037, issued by the Department of the Navy, Fleet and Industrial Supply Center, Puget Sound, for repair services for Navy vessels. The protester contends that the agency erroneously determined its proposal to be technically unacceptable and the proposals of the other three offerors to be technically acceptable. We deny the protest. View Decision B-297207, Marine Industries NW, December 2, 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: Marine Industries NW File: B-297207 Date: December 2, 2005 CarolynA.Lake, Esq., Goodstein Law Group PLLC, for the protester. Craig D. Haughtelin, Esq., Department of the Navy, 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 Agency reasonably determined that protester's proposal failed to comply with a solicitation requirement for a brief description of offeror's quality assurance plan for certifying completed work where protester submitted brief description of plan that it was in the process of implementing, but failed to represent that the plan would be in place by the time of contract award or describe any plan that it would be replacing. DECISION Marine Industries NW protests the rejection of its proposal and the award of contracts to three other offerors under request for proposals (RFP) No. N00406'05'R'5037, issued by the Department of the Navy, Fleet and Industrial Supply Center, Puget Sound, for repair services for Navy vessels. The protester contends that the agency erroneously determined its proposal to be technically unacceptable and the proposals of the other three offerors to be technically acceptable. We deny the protest. The RFP, which was issued on March 17, 2005, contemplated the award of up to four fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contracts, with the awardees then to compete for individual task orders. The solicitation provided for award to the offerors whose technically acceptable proposals represented the best value to the government, past performance and price considered. To be determined technically acceptable, offerors had to state that they could meet or exceed the specifications in the solicitation and any subsequent amendments; demonstrate that they had adequate docking facilities and services, located within the distance limits of Naval Base Kitsap--Bremerton Annex, as set forth elsewhere in the solicitation; and submit a brief description of their company quality assurance (QA) plan for certifying completed work. RFP at 73. Seven proposals were received by the April 18 closing date. The evaluators determined the protester's proposal to be technically unacceptable because it did not include the required information regarding the protester's QA plan. In this connection, the evaluators explained as follows: [Marine Industries] stated that they are in the process of implementing a Quality Assurance Plan. The solicitation stated that the offeror shall submit a brief description of the type of their Quality Assurance Program and their process for ensuring proper certification of work/inspection. [Marine Industries'] statement that they are in the process of implementing a Quality Assurance Plan does not meet the requirements of the solicitation in that the process of implementation is a long process that could take years prior to fully putting the Quality Assurance Plan into operation. [Marine Industries'] statement doesn't indicate where they are in that process, what type of Quality Assurance process they would employ and whether any process will be in effect at the time of award. To ascertain this information would require the Contracting Officer go into discussions. Since the government has the option to award without discussion and there are three qualified offerors that are fully capable of meeting the requirements of the solicitation, the Contracting Officer does not feel that going into discussions is in the best interest of the Government. Given that [Marine Industries] does not meet all of the requirements of the solicitation they were determined to be technically unacceptable by the technical review board. Business Clearance Memorandum at 5. The evaluators determined five of the remaining six proposals to be technically acceptable and selected three of the five for award. On July 8, the agency awarded contracts to Pacific Ship Repair and Fabrication, Inc., Puglia Engineering Inc., and Propulsion Controls Engineering.