B-298259, Southwest Educational Development Laboratory, July 10, 2006

B-298259 Jul 10, 2006 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Southwest Educational Development Laboratory (SEDL) protests the award of a contract under request for proposals (RFP) No. ED-05-R-0006 to Edvance Research Inc. by the Department of Education for the operation of the Southwestern Regional Educational Laboratory. We deny the protest. View Decision B-298259, Southwest Educational Development Laboratory, July 10, 2006 Decision Matter of: Southwest Educational Development Laboratory File: B-298259 Date: July 10, 2006 Wesley A. Hoover for the protester. Jeffrey C. Morhardt, Esq., Department of Education, for the agency. Jeanette M. Soares and James A. Spangenberg, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Protest of evaluation of small business subcontracting plan as not consistent with the solicitation is denied where protest is premised upon misinterpretation of the solicitation. DECISION Southwest Educational Development Laboratory (SEDL) protests the award of a contract under request for proposals (RFP) No. ED-05-R-0006 to Edvance Research Inc. by the Department of Education for the operation of the Southwestern Regional Educational Laboratory. We deny the protest. The RFP, issued on July 15, 2005, was for a 5-year fixed-price, award fee contract to operate the laboratory. The evaluation factors were price, past performance and technical merit. The technical merit factor had three subfactors: soundness and responsiveness of technical plan to statement of work and expertise, experience, availability and commitment of relevant personnel (90 points); management and organizational experience and capability (10 points); and small business subcontracting plan (25 points). Although price was said to be a substantial factor in the source selection, the quality factors, including technical merit and past performance, when considered together were significantly more important than price. On September 20, 2005, the agency issued amendment No. 4 which added the following with regard to the small business subcontracting plan subfactor: In order to be eligible for contract award, an offeror must propose a subcontracting plan with a minimum of 15% of the total contract dollars to small business, small disadvantaged business, woman-owned small business, HUBZone small business or Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business. An award will not be made to an offeror without a subcontracting plan that proposes, at a minimum, 15% of total contract dollars going to small businesses by time of award. All offerors considered eligible for contract award shall have until time of award to finalize small business subcontracting partnerships. A subcontracting plan that proposes work in excess of 15% of the total contract dollars subcontracted to a small business, small disadvantaged business, woman-owned small business, HUBZone small business or Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business will receive up to 25 points. These points will be added to a technical score to arrive at a total evaluated score for purposes of award decision. The Department will establish a competitive range based on Technical merit and cost, without scoring the subcontracting plan. However, a subcontracting plan must be negotiated by time of award, at which time the additional points for the subcontracting plan will be added. RFP amend. 4, at 6 (emphasis in original). The protester and awardee submitted proposals by the October 3, 2005 closing date. The agency evaluated these proposals and included both proposals in the competitive range. The agency opened negotiations with both offerors by sending technical and business negotiation questions. In one of the questions SEDL received concerning its small business subcontracting plan, the agency notified SEDL that its proposed major subcontractor was not a small business concern as claimed in the proposal and in order to be credited under this subfactor a small business concern must be proposed. AR, Tab 22, SEDL First Round of Technical and Business Negotiation Questions. The offerors' responses to the written negotiation questions and corresponding revisions to the proposals became their interim revised proposals. In its interim revised proposal, SEDL changed its small business subcontracting plan to remove the ineligible large business and increase the portion of work subcontracted to small businesses to 18.72 percent. AR, Tab 26, SEDL Interim Revised Business Proposal, at 7. On December 1, 2005, the agency issued amendment No. 5 to the RFP. Amendment No. 5 altered the evaluation scheme so that small businesses would automatically receive the full 25 points allotted for the small business subcontracting plan subfactor and large businesses would receive 3 points for every percentage point above the 15-percent minimum requirement up to the maximum of 25 points.