B-299577, Forest City Military Communities, LLC, June 29, 2007

B-299577 Jun 29, 2007 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Forest City Military Communities, LLC protests the award of a contract to GMH/Centex Military Communities (GMH) under request for qualifications (RFQ) No. W912DR-06-R-0006, issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for housing and community development at the U.S. Military Academy (USMA) in West Point, NY. The protester contends that the agency's evaluation of offerors' proposals was unreasonable. We dismiss the protest as untimely in part, and deny the protest in part. View Decision B-299577, Forest City Military Communities, LLC, June 29, 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: ForestCity Military Communities, LLC File: B-299577 Date: June 29, 2007 Robert H. Koehler, Esq., and Jennifer S. Zucker, Esq., Patton Boggs LLP, for the protester. E. Sanderson Hoe, Esq., and Jennifer M. Morrison, Esq., McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP, for GMH/Centex Military Communities, an intervenor. Matthew R. Keiser, Esq., U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, for the agency. Jonathan L. Kang, Esq., and Ralph O. White, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST 1. Protest challenging the agency's use of an arbitrary –plug number— in evaluating the awardee's proposed cost is denied where the protester's own calculation of the awardee's cost demonstrates that there was no likelihood of prejudice. 2. Protester's supplemental challenges to the agency's evaluation of its proposal are dismissed as untimely where the protester could have, but did not, raise the arguments in its initial protest based on information made available to the protester during its debriefing. DECISION Forest City Military Communities, LLC protests the award of a contract to GMH/Centex Military Communities (GMH) under request for qualifications (RFQ) No. W912DR-06-R-0006, issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for housing and community development at the U.S. Military Academy (USMA) in West Point, NY. The protester contends that the agency's evaluation of offerors' proposals was unreasonable. We dismiss the protest as untimely in part, and deny the protest in part. BACKGROUND In 1996, Congress enacted legislation authorizing the Military Housing Privatization Initiative with the goal of improving Department of Defense military family housing more economically and more quickly than traditional military construction approaches. This initiative allows private sector financing, ownership, and operation and maintenance of military housing. National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1996, Pub. L. No. 104-06, sect. 2801 et seq., 110 Stat. 186 et seq., codified at 10 U.S.C. sections 2871-2885 (2000). The Army's program under this initiative is the Residential Communities Initiative (RCI). Under the RCI, the Army selects a contractor to build, renovate, manage, and maintain family housing communities at Army installations. The contractor will be responsible for owning, developing, redeveloping, managing and marketing housing units at a particular installation so that military personnel and their families will choose to become residents. The RCI uses a 2-phase approach for privatizing housing that the Army has employed in 27 projects to date. Agency Report (AR) at 2. In phase 1, project planning, the Army conducts a competition to identify a qualified contractor to develop a community development and management plan (CDMP) for family housing and community facilities at an installation. In phase 2, project implementation, the Army authorizes the contractor to implement the CDMP, subject to several approval authorities, as follows: During Phase 2, the developer will implement the CDMP, provided the installation, Headquarters, Department of the Army (HQDA), Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD), Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and the Congress approve the plan, and approval is given to consummate the CDMP and begin the transition / transfer of assets and operations. RFQ at 7. The RFQ here sought proposals for the improvement of Army family housing at three installations: (1) Fort Lee, Virginia, (2) the USMA, West Point, New York, and (3) Fort Jackson, South Carolina. Offerors were allowed to compete for the work at any or all of the installations. The RFQ divided the competition into two steps to award the phase 1 (project planning) contract. In step 1 of the competition, offerors were required to demonstrate minimum experience and qualification requirements. Offerors meeting these requirements were eligible to compete in step 2 of the competition, in which offerors submitted written proposals and participated in oral presentations.