B-299517; B-299517.2, Sumaria Systems, Inc., June 8, 2007

B-299517; B-299517.2, Sumaria Systems, Inc., June 8, 2007 TITLE: B-299517; B-299517.2, Sumaria Systems, Inc., June 8, 2007 BNUMBER: B-299517; B-299517.2 DATE: June 8, 2007 ********************************************************* B-299517; B-299517.2, Sumaria Systems, Inc., June 8, 2007 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: Sumaria Systems, Inc. File: B-299517; B-299517.2 Date: June 8, 2007 David M. Pronchick, Esq., BlueLaw LLP, and Rebecca E. Pearson, Esq., John J. Pavlick, Jr., Esq., and Sharon A. Jenks, Esq., Venable LLP, for the protester. Richard W. Gates, Esq., and Lary Mohl, Esq., United States Transportation Command, Department of Defense, for the agency. Paul N. Wengert, Esq., and Ralph O. White, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Protest is denied where agency reasonably evaluated successful vendor's quotation in competition for order under Federal Supply Schedule for information technology services, and where additional past performance information considered by agency supported improvement in successful vendor's evaluation, and agency reasonably took into account both the lower staffing of successful vendor's quotation, and evaluated strengths of protester's quotation, in determining that protester's technical superiority did not overcome successful vendor's lower evaluated cost. DECISION Sumaria Systems, Inc. protests the issuance of a task order to Dynamics Research Corporation (DRC) by the Department of Defense, United States Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM), under the General Services Administration's Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) contract for general purpose commercial information technology equipment, software, and services (Schedule 70), and pursuant to request for quotations (RFQ) No. HTC711-07-Q-0006 for corporate data office engineering and modeling services. Sumaria objects to the evaluation and selection of DRC as the successful vendor on the basis of DRC's lower-priced quotation. We deny the protest. BACKGROUND The RFQ, dated November 2, 2006, announced that USTRANSCOM would issue a labor hour task order for an initial base period (the remainder of federal fiscal year 2007), followed by three 1-year options to the successful FSS vendor.[1] Contracting Officer's (CO) Statement at 1. The RFQ set forth two equally-weighted non-price factors--past performance, and mission capability--which, when combined, were significantly more important than price. RFQ attach. 2, Quote Evaluation Criteria, at 1. The mission capability factor was divided into two subfactors: staffing and technical approach. Id. at 4. For each subfactor, the RFQ described an assessment of both the quotation's merit and the "Quote Risk," which it described as a measure of "the weaknesses associated with the offeror's proposed approach as it relates to accomplishing the requirements of the solicitation." Id. at 3-5. The RFQ also stated that "overall price . . . will be evaluated for completeness and reasonableness considering the proposed approach in terms of labor or skill mix, labor hours, any other direct costs, and quoted discounts." Id. at 5. After receiving initial quotations and past performance information, the evaluators rated DRC's past performance "significant confidence," and Sumaria's "high confidence."[2] Under the mission capability factor, DRC was rated "yellow" with "moderate" risk for both subfactors, while Sumaria was rated "blue" with "low" risk under the staffing subfactor, and "green" with "low" risk under the technical approach subfactor.[3] Agency Report (AR), Tab 15b, Initial Rating Team Worksheets. After conducting multiple rounds of discussions and requesting interim, then final, revised quotations, the evaluators rated both vendors "high confidence" under the past performance factor. Under the mission capability factor, DRC's final revised quotation was rated "blue" with "low" risk under the technical approach subfactor, and "green" with "low" risk under the staffing subfactor, while Sumaria's was rated "blue" with "low" risk under both subfactors.