B-299539, Moore's Cafeteria Services d/b/a MCS Management, June 5, 2007

B-299539 Jun 05, 2007 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Moore's Cafeteria Services d/b/a MCS Management (MCS) protests the award of a contract to the Kentucky Office for the Blind (KOB), a state licensing agency for the blind (SLA), under request for proposals (RFP) No. W9124D-07-R-0012, issued by the Department of the Army for food services at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. The protester argues that the price offered by the KOB is not reasonable. We deny the protest. View Decision B-299539, Moore's Cafeteria Services d/b/a MCS Management, June 5, 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: Moore's Cafeteria Services d/b/a MCS Management File: B-299539 Date: June 5, 2007 Sam Z. Gdanski, Esq., and Scott H. Gdanski, Esq., Gdanski & Gdanski, LLP, for the protester. Lt. Col. Frank A. March, and Matthew C. Bowman, Esq., Department of the Army, for the agency. Jennifer D. Westfall-McGrail, Esq., and Christine S. Melody, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST 1. Contracting officer was not required to apply definition of –fair and reasonable price— set forth in interagency statement of policy issued in response to Congressional directive in evaluating reasonableness of price offered by state licensing agency for the blind where at the time the procurement was conducted, the policy had not been implemented through the issuance of regulations. 2. Contracting officer reasonably determined price offered by state licensing agency for the blind to be fair and reasonable based on comparison to prices offered by other offerors with technically acceptable proposals and to government estimate. DECISION Moore's Cafeteria Services d/b/a MCS Management (MCS) protests the award of a contract to the Kentucky Office for the Blind (KOB), a state licensing agency for the blind (SLA), under request for proposals (RFP) No. W9124D-07-R-0012, issued by the Department of the Army for food services at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. The protester argues that the price offered by the KOB is not reasonable. We deny the protest. The RFP, which was issued on January 23, 2007, contemplated the award of a fixed-price contract for a 1-year period without options. The acquisition was set aside for Historically Underutilized Business Zone (HUBZone) small businesses, but also permitted the submission of offers by qualified SLAs in accordance with the Randolph-Sheppard Act. As initially issued, the solicitation advised prospective offerors that the acquisition was –subject to exercise of the Department of Defense preference policy regarding qualified [SLAs] in accordance with the Randolph-Sheppard Act— and that –[a] technically acceptable offer from a qualified [SLA] [would] receive preference in accordance with the Joint Report to Congress, dated August 29, 2006.— RFP at 33. The RFP provided for award to the offeror of the lowest-priced technically acceptable proposal after consideration of the above preference. The RFP also noted that the government intended to award without discussions. The Joint Report to Congress, dated August 29, 2006, referred to above, is a report issued jointly by the Department of Defense, the Department of Education, and the Committee for Purchase From People Who Are Blind or Severely Disabled in response to section 848 of the National Defense Authorization Act of Fiscal Year 2006, Pub. L. No. 109-163, which instructed the three entities to issue a joint statement of policy concerning application of the Randolph-Sheppard Act and the Javits-Wagner-O'Day Act to contracts for the operation and management of military dining facilities. The report included the following guidance regarding application of the Randolph-Sheppard Act: METHOD OF AFFORDING THE RANDOLPH-SHEPPARD –PRIORITY.—--Defense Department contracts for the operation of a military dining facility must be awarded as the result of full and open competition, unless there is a basis for direct negotiations . . . . When competing such contracts, contracting officers shall afford State licensing agencies a priority under the R-S Act when (1) the State licensing agency has demonstrated that it can provide such operation at a fair and reasonable price, with food of high quality comparable to that available from other providers of cafeteria services and comparable to the quality and price of food currently provided to military service members; and (2) the State licensing agency's final proposal revision, or initial proposal if award is made without discussions, is among the highly ranked final proposal revisions with a reasonable chance of being selected for award. . . .