B-297367, Hera Constructive S.A./Synthesis S.A., Joint Venture, December 20, 2005

B-297367 Dec 20, 2005 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Hera Constructive S.A./Synthesis S.A., Joint Venture protests the award of a contract to Ergodomi S.A. by the Department of the Navy pursuant to request for proposals (RFP) No. N33191-05-R-1206, issued for the demolition of an existing sewage treatment plant and the construction of a new reinforced concrete tertiary treatment plant at the Naval Support Activity located at Souda Bay on the island of Crete, Greece. Hera/Synthesis argues that the Navy's evaluation of its proposal, and the awardee's proposal, was unreasonable. We deny the protest. View Decision B-297367, Hera Constructive S.A./Synthesis S.A., Joint Venture, December 20, 2005 Decision Matter of: Hera Constructive S.A./Synthesis S.A., Joint Venture File: B-297367 Date: December 20, 2005 Constantinos Fotiadis for the protester. Damon A. Martin, Esq., Department of the Navy, the agency. Ralph O. White, Esq., and Christine S. Melody, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Protester's contention that the agency's evaluation of its and the awardee's proposals was unreasonable, and that the agency failed to consider the protester's extensive general experience, is denied where the record shows that the agency's evaluation of both proposals was consistent with the solicitation's stated scheme. DECISION Hera Constructive S.A./Synthesis S.A., Joint Venture protests the award of a contract to Ergodomi S.A. by the Department of the Navy pursuant to request for proposals (RFP) No. N33191-05-R-1206, issued for the demolition of an existing sewage treatment plant and the construction of a new reinforced concrete tertiary treatment plant at the Naval Support Activity located at SoudaBay on the island of Crete, Greece. Hera/Synthesis argues that the Navy's evaluation of its proposal, and the awardee's proposal, was unreasonable. We deny the protest. BACKGROUND The Navy issued the RFP on May 12, 2005, seeking offerors to construct a new tertiary sewage treatment plant at its SoudaBay facility. The solicitation advised that the award would be made without discussions, if possible, to the offeror whose proposal provides the best value to the government considering price and technical merits. RFP at 22. The RFP identified three evaluation factors: organizational experience, organizational past performance, and price. Potential offerors were advised that organizational experience and organizational past performance would be equal in importance, and together, would be approximately equal in importance to price. Id. The RFP directed offerors to submit a list of five relevant previously-performed contracts, advised that the list would be used for the evaluation of both experience and past performance, and warned that the evaluation would not consider more than five contracts. In fact, the solicitation explained that if an offeror submitted more than five contracts, only the first five would be evaluated. Id. at 23. The RFP did reserve to the government the right to consider an offeror's performance of other contracts known to the government, regardless of whether those contracts were identified in the proposal. Id. at 24. The RFP also identified several indicia of relevance the agency would use in assessing the previously-performed contracts, including that the contract involve new construction or renovation completed during the past 5 years, and be similar in size, construction features and other contract features. The RFP explained that higher ratings –may— be awarded for identified contracts involving performance on an island, at other remote locations, in high security areas, or at airports. Id.Offerors were also required to identify key personnel in their proposal, and the experience of the proposed key personnel was to be considered as part of the evaluation of the experience factor. The RFP advised that proposals would be rated overall, and under each factor, as either excellent, good, satisfactory, marginal, or poor. With respect to these ratings, the RFP explained that a rating of marginal or poor for any factor would result in a rating of marginal or poor overall; the RFP also explained that only those proposals rated satisfactory or higher would be eligible for award. Id. at 22, 25. By the June 16 closing date, the Navy received four proposals, including those of the protester and the awardee. The Hera/Synthesis proposal identified five previously-performed contracts, as the RFP directed, and also included a list of 46 separate projects either completed or underway by Hera/Synthesis (or a predecessor version of the joint venture) for the U.S. government in Greece.