B-298866.3, The Salvation Army Community Corrections Program--Costs, August 29, 2007

B-298866.3 Aug 29, 2007 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights The Salvation Army Community Corrections Program requests that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) recommend that the Salvation Army be reimbursed the costs of filing and pursuing various protests challenging the award of a contract to Paladin East Side Psychological Services, Inc. under request for proposals (RFP) No.200-0888-NC, issued by the Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), for a "Comprehensive Sanctions Center" (CSC). We recommend that the Salvation Army be reimbursed the reasonable costs of filing and pursuing its initial and supplemental protests, as well as the costs of pursuing this request. View Decision B-298866.3, The Salvation Army Community Corrections Program--Costs, August 29, 2007 Decision Matter of: The Salvation Army Community Corrections Program--Costs File: B-298866.3 Date: August 29, 2007 Luke Levasseur, Esq., Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw LLP, for the protester. Tracey L. Printer, Esq., Department of Justice, for the agency. Charles W. Morrow, Esq., and James A. Spangenberg, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST 1. Government Accountability Office (GAO) recommends that protester be reimbursed the costs of filing and pursuing a protest where the agency unduly delayed taking corrective action in response to clearly meritorious protest. 2. In determining whether claimed protest costs should be severed, GAO generally considers all issues concerning the evaluation of proposals to be intertwined--and thus not severable--and therefore generally will recommend reimbursement of the costs associated with both successful and unsuccessful evaluation challenges. DECISION The Salvation Army Community Corrections Program requests that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) recommend that the Salvation Army be reimbursed the costs of filing and pursuing various protests challenging the award of a contract to Paladin East Side Psychological Services, Inc. under request for proposals (RFP) No. 200-0888-NC, issued by the Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), for a –Comprehensive Sanctions Center— (CSC).[1] We recommend that the Salvation Army be reimbursed the reasonable costs of filing and pursuing its initial and supplemental protests, as well as the costs of pursuing this request. The RFP, issued on November 15, 2005, sought proposals for providing CSC services for male and female offenders held under the authority of the United States and located in the greater Chicago metropolitan area. The CSC is to provide comprehensive community-based services for offenders, including confining offenders in a controlled and appropriately secure environment, and providing work and other self-improvement opportunities to assist federal offenders in becoming law-abiding citizens. The RFP contemplated the award of a fixed-price requirements contract for a base period with 3 option years. The award was to be based upon a –comparative— assessment of proposals in three areas: past performance, technical/management, and price. Past performance was said to be more important than technical/management, and when combined these two areas were significantly more important than price. The RFP stated that past performance would be judged as follows: The Past performance area addresses the Government's confidence in the offeror's probability of successfully performing the effort as proposed based on their record of performance in current and past relevant contract efforts. The Past Performance evaluation will be accomplished by reviewing aspects of an offeror's relevant present and recent past performance, focusing on and targeting performance that is relevant to the Past Performance factors [(1) accountability, (2) programs,[2] (3) community relations, (4) personnel, and (5) communications and responsiveness]. The recency and relevancy of Past Performance information is critical to the Government's evaluation. More recent, more relevant performance information will have a greater positive impact on the Past Performance evaluation than less recent, less relevant performance. RFP at 43. The RFP requested past performance information regarding the offeror's five most relevant contracts and or subcontracts that were or are currently being performed in the past 3 years. The RFP explained that –'[r]elevant' refers to contracts, which are of similar size, scope and complexity [as] being acquired under this solicitation.— In addition, the RFP cautioned that –[o]fferor's past performance evaluations may be negatively impacted if they submit contracts in response to these instructions which are considered less relevant or irrelevant.— RFP sect. J. There were five factors in the technical/management evaluation area: site location, accountability, programs, facility, and personnel.