B-298197; B-298197.2, Tarheel Specialties, Inc., July 17, 2006

B-298197; B-298197.2, Tarheel Specialties, Inc., July 17, 2006 TITLE: B-298197; B-298197.2, Tarheel Specialties, Inc., July 17, 2006 BNUMBER: B-298197; B-298197.2 DATE: July 17, 2006 ************************************************************** B-298197; B-298197.2, Tarheel Specialties, Inc., July 17, 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: Tarheel Specialties, Inc. File: B-298197; B-298197.2 Date: July 17, 2006 Richard D. Lieberman, Esq., and Nicole S. Allen, Esq., McCarthy, Sweeney & Harkaway, PC, for the protester. Aaron T. Marshall, Esq., Department of Homeland Security, and Michael D. Tully, Esq., General Services Administration, for the agencies. Charles W. Morrow, Esq., Sharon L. Larkin, Esq., and James A. Spangenberg, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Protest of issuance of a task order to a vendor for support services pursuant to its General Services Administration Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) contract is sustained where the contracting agency improperly determined that the services called for under the task order were within the scope of the vendor's FSS contract. DECISION Tarheel Specialties, Inc. protests the award of a task order by the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (DHS/ICE) to USIS under that firm's General Services Administration (GSA) Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) contract No. GS-07F-0385J. The task order was issued pursuant to request for proposals (RFP) No. HSCEOP-06-R-00004 for services to support the agency's National Firearms and Tactical Training Unit (NFTTU) Armory Operations Branch. We sustain the protest. The NFTTU, located in Altoona, Pennsylvania and New Brunswick, Georgia, is responsible for the acquisition of all DHS/ICE firearms, ammunition, and related equipment. These responsibilities include the testing and evaluation of new technology and maintenance of a quality control program for items purchased; the repair and modification of DHS/ICE firearms; the disposal of excess firearms; the inventory management and control of all DHS/ICE firearms and ammunition; the collection, analysis, and reporting of all DHS/ICE shooting incidents; the training of field armorers; the training of personnel involved in the "Firearms Inventory System"; and the maintenance of several national databases critical to DHS/ICE's firearms programs. The RFP, issued on February 10, 2006, solicited proposals for administrative and technical support for the NFTTU under a labor-hour, task-order contract for a base period of 1 year with 4 option years. NFTTU sought support related to its day-to-day operations, including secretarial, administrative, occupational safety and health, logistics and inventory management, material management, accounting, technical project support, computer support, and course developer/instructor support for firearms and defensive tactics training. RFP Performance Work Statement (PWS) at 1. The RFP's PWS identified the nine labor positions required to be provided: site supervisor, course developer/instructor-firearms, course developer/instructor-defensive tactics, secretary, administrative assistant, material management specialist, ballistics engineering technician, logistics and inventory specialist, and administrative support specialist. RFP PWS at 10-15. For each labor position, the PWS detailed responsibilities and experience/education requirements. These positions and the estimated hours for each position constituted the contract line items of the RFP for which vendors were to submit rates. The RFP explained that "[DHS/ICE] intends to acquire these services by awarding a competitive Task Order to one Offeror who has a current Federal Supply Service Schedule with the [GSA]." RFP at 20. In this regard, the RFP advised offerors that "the [offeror's proposal] must identify each category of labor proposed for performance mapped to the applicable GSA Schedule labor category, provide the GSA Schedule price, show the proposed discounts for the rate, and the rate proposed for the particular labor category inclusive of the discount."[1] RFP at 23. The RFP provided for award to the vendor whose proposal was determined to be the best value based on three evaluation factors: demonstrated technical capability, past performance/experience, and price (including discount terms). The evaluation scheme assigned equal importance to demonstrated technical capability and past performance/experience and assigned greater importance to the combination of these factors than to price.