B-298047.3, Family Entertainment Services, Inc., September 20, 2006

B-298047.3 Sep 20, 2006 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Family Entertainment Services, Inc. doing business as IMC protests the award of a contract to Total Grounds Maintenance, LLC (TGM) under request for proposals (RFP) No. W911SE-06-R-0007, issued by the Department of the Army, for grounds maintenance services at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. The protester argues that the agency's evaluation of proposals was unreasonable. We sustain the protest. View Decision B-298047.3, Family Entertainment Services, Inc., September 20, 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: Family Entertainment Services, Inc. File: B-298047.3 Date: September 20, 2006 Michael Bornstein, Esq., Ricketts Co. LPA, for the protester. Johnathan M. Bailey, Esq., Bailey & Bailey, for Total Grounds Maintenance, LLC, the intervenor. Capt. John J. Pritchard, and Lt. Col. Frank A. March, Department of the Army, for the agency. John L. Formica, Esq., Guy R. Pietrovito, Esq., and James A. Spangenberg, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST 1. Protest that the agency's evaluation of the protester's past performance was unreasonable is sustained where the record evidences that the protester and awardee were not treated equally with regard to the agency's efforts to contact past performance references, and the record does not provide a reasonable explanation for the agency's conclusions regarding the protester's past performance, including what if any impact the agency's receipt of contract performance assessment reports had on its evaluation. 2. Agency reasonably considered the past performance information set forth in the awardee's proposal where the solicitation provided for the consideration of past performance information regarding predecessor companies and key personnel, the awardee's proposal explained the relationship between it and the firm that had performed the contracts described, and nothing in the record is inconsistent with the awardee's representations; however, the agency failed to evaluate the awardee's past performance in accordance with the terms of the solicitation where there is no evidence that the agency, when rating the awardee's past performance, took into account the solicitation's provision that past performance information concerning predecessor companies and key personnel would not be as highly rated as past performance information for the principal offeror. DECISION Family Entertainment Services, Inc. doing business as IMC protests the award of a contract to Total Grounds Maintenance, LLC (TGM) under request for proposals (RFP) No. W911SE-06-R-0007, issued by the Department of the Army, for grounds maintenance services at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. The protester argues that the agency's evaluation of proposals was unreasonable. We sustain the protest. The RFP, issued on January 27, 2006 as a set-aside for small businesses in historically underutilized business zones, provided for the award of a fixed'price requirements contract for a base year with 4 option years. RFP at 4, 154. The solicitation stated that the contract would be awarded to the offeror submitting the proposal found to represent the best value to the government, based upon the evaluation factors of past performance and price. RFP at 136. The solicitation specified that in determining which proposal represented the best value, the agency would consider past performance significantly more important than price. Id. The agency received 11 proposals by the solicitation's closing date, of which 10 proposals, including those submitted by TGM and IMC, receiving ratings of –very good— under the RFP's past performance factor. TGM submitted the lowest priced proposal, with a total evaluated proposed price of $6,749,644; IMC's proposed total evaluated price was $7,878,280. Agency Report (AR), Tab 11, Source Selection Statement, at 3. The agency selected the proposal submitted by TGM for award, and IMC filed this protest following a debriefing. The protester argues that the agency's evaluation of its and TGM's proposals under the past performance factor was unreasonable. Our Office will examine an agency's evaluation of an offeror's past performance only to ensure that it was reasonable and consistent with the stated evaluation factors and applicable statutes and regulations, since determining the relative merit of an offeror's past performance is primarily a matter within the contracting agency's discretion. CWIS, LLC, B-287521, July 2, 2001, 2001 CPD para. 119 at 2.