B-298349, PAI Corporation, August 18, 2006

B-298349 Aug 18, 2006 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights PAI Corporation protests the award of a contract to Consolidated Safety Services, Inc. (CSS) under request for proposals (RFP) No. NNA04055727R, issued by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for occupational safety, industrial hygiene, and medical services (OSIHM) at Ames Research Center. PAI asserts that agency contracting officials were biased against PAI, and that the agency unreasonably evaluated its proposal. We deny the protest. View Decision B-298349, PAI Corporation, August 18, 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: PAI Corporation File: B-298349 Date: August 18, 2006 Susan W. Ebner, Esq., and Ronald S. Perlman, Esq., and John Jacko, Esq., Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC, for the protester. Richard J. McCarthy, Esq., National Aeronautics and Space Administration, for the agency. Mary G. Curcio, Esq., and John M. Melody, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST 1. Protest that agency was biased against the protester is denied where record contains no evidence of bias. 2. Protest that agency unreasonably evaluated protester's proposal is denied where record demonstrates that evaluation was reasonable and in accordance with stated evaluation criteria. 3. Protest that agency failed to hold meaningful discussions with protester regarding significant weaknesses or deficiencies in protester's proposal is denied where items protester asserts should have been discussed either were discussed adequately, or were not significant weaknesses or deficiencies, and therefore were not required to be discussed. DECISION PAI Corporation protests the award of a contract to Consolidated Safety Services, Inc. (CSS) under request for proposals (RFP) No. NNA04055727R, issued by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for occupational safety, industrial hygiene, and medical services (OSIHM) at AmesResearchCenter. PAI asserts that agency contracting officials were biased against PAI, and that the agency unreasonably evaluated its proposal. We deny the protest. The solicitation, issued on December 17, 2004, provided for award on a –best value— basis, with evaluation factors for mission suitability (comprised of three subfactors, in descending order of importance: understanding the requirement; management approach, organizational structure, corporate or company resources, and key personnel; and safety and health plan), past performance, and cost. Past performance and cost were of equal weight and were each weighted slightly less than the mission suitability factor. Three offerors--CSS, PAI, and Integrated Science Solutions, Inc. (ISSi)--submitted proposals. Following the evaluation of initial proposals, NASA placed the three offerors' proposals in the competitive range, held discussions, and solicited, received and evaluated final proposal revisions (FPR). In the final evaluation, CSS's, ISSi's, and PAI's proposals received 968, 904, and 849 (out of 1,000 available) points, respectively, for mission suitability. With respect to past performance, CSS and ISSi were rated excellent, and PAI was rated very good. CSS's proposed cost was $33.6 million, compared to PAI's $32.9 million and ISSi's $31.2 million. Based on these results, the agency determined that CSS's proposal represented the best value, and made award to that firm. PAI protests the award decision on several bases. BIAS PAI explains that it was the incumbent contractor for the OSIHM services under a combined OSIHM and Environmental Services (ES) contract. ISSi was a subcontractor to PAI, and the president of ISSi was the project manager. In February 2002, PAI fired the project manager because PAI determined that she was violating a conflict of interest agreement she had signed with PAI. PAI asserts that the contracting officer's technical representative (COTR) on that contract was a friend of the project manager and was angry at PAI for firing her. PAI maintains that this animus translated into bias against PAI under the current procurement. According to PAI, evidence of this bias includes the COTR's refusal to approve two substitute project managers PAI proffered to replace the fired individual (under the prior contract). Instead, the agency approved a third substitute, who performed poorly and left the company within 6 months.