B-299083, Fantastic Data, February 5, 2007

B-299083 Feb 05, 2007 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Fantastic Data protests the decision of the Department of the Army not to fund Fantastic Data's phase I proposal under Department of Defense (DOD) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program solicitation No. FY06.2. We deny the protest. View Decision B-299083, Fantastic Data, February 5, 2007 Decision Matter of: Fantastic Data File: B-299083 Date: February 5, 2007 Dale Pitman for the protester. Frank V. DiNicola, Esq., and Vera Meza, Esq., Department of the Army, 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 Protest challenging procuring agency's decision not to fund proposal under phase I of the Department of the Defense Small Business Innovation Research program is denied where the record shows that the agency reasonably evaluated the proposal. DECISION Fantastic Data protests the decision of the Department of the Army not to fund Fantastic Data's phase I proposal under Department of Defense (DOD) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program solicitation No. FY06.2. We deny the protest. The SBIR program is conducted pursuant to the Small Business Innovation Development Act, 15 U.S.C. sect. 638 (2000), which requires certain federal agencies to reserve a portion of their research and development funds for awards to small businesses. As part of its SBIR program, DOD issues an SBIR solicitation twice a year listing the research topics for which it will consider SBIR program admission. Firms first apply for a 6-month phase I award to test the scientific, technical, and commercial merit and feasibility of a certain concept. If phase I is successful, the firm may be invited to apply for a phase II award to further develop the concept. After the completion of phase II, firms are expected to obtain funding from the private sector and/or non-SBIR government sources to develop the concept into a product for sale in private sector and/or military markets. See DOD's SBIR Website, http://www.acq.osd.mil/sadbu/sbir/overview/index.htm. The solicitation included Army Topic A06-110, –Compact, Wideband, Single or Dual Antenna Geolocation.— The objective of this topic is to –[d]evelop and demonstrate techniques to perform geolocation [e.g. troop location, target location, battlefield condition related to a specific geographic location] using a compact, wideband, single or dual antenna for applications where array-based Direction Finding (DF) systems are not practical due to size, weight, and cost constraints.— Under this topic, the Army seeks to develop techniques to perform geolocation with –small, compact, lightweight, and wideband single or dual antennae— to avoid certain limitations associated with DF systems operating at low frequencies and to take advantage of the –trend toward smaller, portable (hand-held), and affordable DF/geolocation systems.— The goal of projects undertaken under this topic is to –reduce the number of antenna elements needed to do geolocation to one or two elements,— resulting in an antenna that will have –sufficient gain to support signal intelligence . . . be broadband to reduce the number of antennas needed to cover the frequency range of 20 to 3000 [megahertz] . . . and –also be compact, lightweight, and small enough to be portable by a soldier.— Agency Report, Tab B, Topic A06-110, at 1. With respect to phase I, the topic requires the following: Develop the antenna designs and identify new approaches (consisting of existing and/or new techniques, methods, and technologies) to perform geolocation with single or dual antenna. Provide a detailed trade study comparing all considered antenna configurations and geolocation techniques and reason for final selection. Demonstrate the feasibility of the selected technique. The Very High Frequency (VHF)/Ultra High Frequency (UHF) bands are of primary interest for Phase I. Id. For phase I, the solicitation contemplated multiple awards of fixed-priced contracts to those proposals offering the best-value considering three evaluation factors listed in descending order of importance as follows: a. The soundness, technical merit, and innovation of the proposed approach and its incremental progress toward topic or subtopic solution. b. The qualifications of the proposed principal/key investigators, supporting staff, and consultants. Qualifications include not only the ability to perform the research and development but also the ability to commercialize the results. c. The potential for commercial (Government or private sector) application and the benefits expected to accrue from this commercialization as assessed utilizing the criteria in Section 4.4.[1] Solicitation at 11. The Army received 15 proposals, including Fantastic Data's, for this topic.