B-310273.2, Sysorex Federal, Inc.--Costs, March 27, 2008

B-310273.2 Mar 27, 2008 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Sysorex Federal, Inc. requests that we recommend that the firm be reimbursed the costs of filing and pursuing its protest challenging the award of a contract to Perceptics, LLC, under request for proposals (RFP) No. 0407RP66155, issued by the Department of the Interior, GovWorks, on behalf of Customs and Border Protection (CBP), for license plate reader (LPR) systems. Sysorex challenged the evaluation of proposals and conduct of the procurement. We grant the request. View Decision B-310273.2, Sysorex Federal, Inc.--Costs, March 27, 2008 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: Sysorex Federal, Inc.--Costs File: B-310273.2 Date: March 27, 2008 David S. Cohen, Esq., and John J. O'Brien, Esq., Cohen Mohr LLP, for the requester. Sherry Kinland Kaswell, Esq., Department of the Interior, and Paul Oman, Esq., U.S. Customs and Border Protection, for the agency. David A. Ashen, Esq., and John M. Melody, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Reimbursement of costs of filing and pursuing a protest insofar as they relate to challenge to evaluation of proposed handheld license plate reader systems is recommended where a reasonable agency inquiry into initial protest allegations would have shown facts disclosing absence of a defensible legal basis for finding awardee's solution compliant with the solicitation specifications, but agency delayed taking corrective action until after submission of the agency report. DECISION Sysorex Federal, Inc. requests that we recommend that the firm be reimbursed the costs of filing and pursuing its protest challenging the award of a contract to Perceptics, LLC, under request for proposals (RFP) No. 0407RP66155, issued by the Department of the Interior, GovWorks, on behalf of Customs and Border Protection (CBP), for license plate reader (LPR) systems. Sysorex challenged the evaluation of proposals and conduct of the procurement. We grant the request. The solicitation provided for award of a primarily fixed'price, level-of-effort contract to produce, install, warrant and maintain a minimum of 54 and a maximum of 770 LPR systems at various CBP facilities, primarily points of entry at U.S. borders. The LPR systems ensure that all vehicles crossing U.S. land borders at points of entry have their license plates automatically queried against law enforcement databases. Several types and configurations of LPRs were specified in the solicitation statement of work (SOW), including: fixed permanent installations at point of entry traffic lanes for commercial vehicles; fixed permanent installations at point of entry traffic lanes for passenger vehicles; –self-contained— mobile units capable of being deployed (within 2 hours) with an approximation of a typical lane layout; and handheld wireless devices –capable of acting as a fully functioning LPR system.— SOW sections C.3.1.5.2, C.3.1.4. Award was to be made to the offeror whose proposal represented the –best value— when evaluated against six criteria: key personnel, technical approach, management approach, past experience/ performance, transition plan, and price. Based on its evaluation of the initial proposals received in response to the RFP and oral presentations made by offerors, Interior initially eliminated Sysorex's proposal from the competition prior to the live test demonstration provided for under the original solicitation. However, the agency subsequently reconsidered its decision and reinstated Sysorex in the competition, amended the solicitation to delete the live test demonstration, and opened discussions with Sysorex, Perceptics, and the other firms whose proposals were included in the competitive range. Based upon its evaluation of the final proposal revisions (FPR) submitted at the end of discussions, Interior determined that Perceptics' proposal represented the best value. While Sysorex's evaluated price ($1,167,705) was significantly lower than Perceptics' ($3,940,954), Perceptics' proposal was rated very good for overall technical merit, while Sysorex's was rated only satisfactory. In this regard, the source selection decision generally indicated that the technology proposed by Sysorex –is not well suited to the environment in which CBP operates,— and specifically observed that Sysorex's handheld solution –compromises officer safety.— Source Selection Decision at 8. Sysorex's proposed handheld system was comprised of [REDACTED]. Sysorex FPR at I-10 to I'11.