B-299469, Knight's Armament Company, April 7, 2007

B-299469 Apr 07, 2007 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Knight's Armament Company (KAC) protests the cancellation of request for proposals (RFP) No. W15QKN-06-R-0485, issued by the Department of the Army for M4 Carbine and M16A2/4 rifle suppressors. The agency canceled the solicitation based on a determination that no technically acceptable proposals were received and that significant revisions to the solicitation were needed. The protester maintains that the decision to cancel the solicitation lacks a reasonable basis. We deny the protest. View Decision B-299469, Knight's Armament Company, April 7, 2007 Decision Matter of: Knight's Armament Company File: B-299469 Date: April 7, 2007 David A. Lutz for the protester. Daniel Pantzer, Esq., Department of the Army, for the agency. Paula A. Williams, Esq., and Ralph O. White, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Agency's decision to cancel solicitation after receipt and evaluation of proposals was unobjectionable where the record shows that the agency reasonably concluded that none of the offered products met the solicitation's requirements, and that the stated requirements do not adequately reflect the agency's needs. DECISION Knight's Armament Company (KAC) protests the cancellation of request for proposals (RFP) No. W15QKN-06-R-0485, issued by the Department of the Army for M4 Carbine and M16A2/4 rifle suppressors. The agency canceled the solicitation based on a determination that no technically acceptable proposals were received and that significant revisions to the solicitation were needed. The protester maintains that the decision to cancel the solicitation lacks a reasonable basis. We deny the protest. The solicited suppressors for the M4 Carbine and M16A2/4 rifles will be used by infantry units to reduce each weapon's baseline muzzle sound, flash, and blast signature. The agency states by reducing noise volume these suppressors mitigate safety hazards, such as the risk of hearing loss, and improve the soldier's command and control of the weapon. The suppressors also promote survivability of soldiers by sufficiently reducing muzzle blast and flash so that the soldier's location remains undetectable to hostile forces. RFP at 4. The RFP, issued on March 7, 2006, sought fixed-priced proposals to furnish a base requirement of 50 suppressors meeting the specifications identified in the solicitation's purchase description, with four option quantities of between 4,000 and 10,000 units. The RFP was limited to suppressors that could be considered commercial, off-the-shelf, non-developmental items. Along with written proposals, offerors were to submit sample suppressors for testing. The RFP advised that award would be made to the offeror whose proposal represented the best value to the government based on an integrated assessment of merit rating (technical testing of sample suppressors and production capabilities) and price, with the merit rating more important than price. RFP at 13. The RFP also advised that the sample suppressors would be tested in two phases: (1) under the –essential criteria— factor, the suppressors were to be measured and tested against 11 identified characteristics on a pass/fail basis; and (2) under the –rated requirements— factor, the suppressors were to be evaluated against 10 subfactors, using adjectival ratings of excellent, good, satisfactory and unsatisfactory. Id. at 14-22. KAC was one of eight offerors submitting 11 proposals in response to this solicitation. Of these, the sample suppressors submitted by four offerors, including KAC, were tested against the rated requirements.[1] Contracting Officer's (CO) Statement at 2. All four of the tested suppressors were rated unsatisfactory under the user assessment subfactor which was the most important of the 10 –rated requirements;— none of the tested suppressors met or exceeded the performance standards in all areas evaluated. Agency Report (AR) exh. 5, Evaluation Report. Consequently, all four offerors received an overall rating of unsatisfactory under the –rated requirements— factor. Id. at 19. The CO reviewed the evaluation results and determined that no offeror had demonstrated an ability to meet the government's stated requirements for the suppressors. Since none of the offered suppressors met the specifications, the agency decided to review the requirements for the M4 and M16A2/A4 suppressors, which led to the conclusion that significant solicitation revisions were needed in order to procure suppressors that would meet the Army's unique needs. See AR exh. 7, Product Manager's Memorandum; AR exh. 8, Director of Combat Development Memorandum. Based on these findings, the agency reports that –funding was suspended— for the procurement of the M4 and M16A2/4 suppressors. Supplemental Legal Memorandum at 5.