B-297686, CRAssociates, Inc., March 7, 2006

B-297686 Mar 07, 2006 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights CRAssociates, Inc. (CRA) protests the rejection of its proposal as technically unacceptable, and the resultant elimination of its proposal from the competitive range, under Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) solicitation No. A76Study01(05)AM. The solicitation was issued on August 5, 2005 as part of a cost comparison study, conducted pursuant to Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A76, as revised on May 29, 2003, to determine whether to contract out--rather than continue to have performed in-house by HHS's Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Division of Immigration Health Services (DIHS) employees--medical and support services for detainees in the custody of the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE). CRA primarily asserts that members of the agency's evaluation panel had impermissible conflicts of interest, and that HHS improperly failed to provide the firm an opportunity to remedy the evaluated deficiencies in its proposal. We deny the protest. View Decision B-297686, CRAssociates, Inc., March 7, 2006 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: CRAssociates, Inc. File: B-297686 Date: March 7, 2006 Devon E. Hewitt, Esq., Pillsbury, Winthrop, Shaw & Pittman, for the protester. Douglas Kornreich, Esq., Department of Health & Human Services, for the agency. David A. Ashen, Esq., and John M. Melody, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Protest that agency was required under the provisions of Office of Management and Budget Circular A'76, as revised on May 29, 2003, to include technically unacceptable private sector offer in the initial competitive range under solicitation issued as part of a Circular A-76 cost comparison study, is denied where solicitation clearly indicated that the agency contemplated conducting discussions only with offerors in the competitive range, and that not all offerors would be included in the competitive range; to the extent that protester believed it should be entitled to discussions even if its proposal were excluded from the competitive range, it was required to protest on this ground prior to the closing date for receipt of proposals. DECISION CRAssociates, Inc. (CRA) protests the rejection of its proposal as technically unacceptable, and the resultant elimination of its proposal from the competitive range, under Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) solicitation No. A'76Study01(05)AM. The solicitation was issued on August 5, 2005 as part of a cost comparison study, conducted pursuant to Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A'76, as revised on May 29, 2003, to determine whether to contract out--rather than continue to have performed in-house by HHS's Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Division of Immigration Health Services (DIHS) employees--medical and support services for detainees in the custody of the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE). CRA primarily asserts that members of the agency's evaluation panel had impermissible conflicts of interest, and that HHS improperly failed to provide the firm an opportunity to remedy the evaluated deficiencies in its proposal. We deny the protest. DIHS provides on-site medical, dental and mental health care to ICE detainees coming from more than 100 countries and speaking more than 150 languages, some of whom are extremely violent and/or display significant mental health disorders, and many of whom come from countries with a high prevalence of infectious diseases that are of public health importance. These detainees are housed in a variety of secure environments, including county or local jails, as well as ICE processing centers and contract detention facilities. Performance Work Statement (PWS) sect. 1.1. The solicitation provided for use of a lowest-cost/technically acceptable source selection method. In this regard, the solicitation stated that award will comply with the rules of OMB Circular A-76. This includes the conduct of a cost comparison between the Agency Tender and the low-cost/technically acceptable commercial offer/reimbursable tender. RFP sect. M.1. Offerors were generally advised that in order to be considered technically acceptable, –all the requirements (services and service levels) and standards— in the PWS must be met.