B-310442, D&J Enterprises, Inc., December 13, 2007

B-310442 Dec 13, 2007 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights D&J Enterprises, Inc. protests the exclusion of its proposal from the competitive range under request for proposals (RFP) No. W912P8-07-R-0101, issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, for debris management services. D&J argues that the Corps unreasonably evaluated its technical proposal, and that its proposal's elimination from the competitive range therefore was improper. We deny the protest. View Decision B-310442, D&J Enterprises, Inc., December 13, 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: D&J Enterprises, Inc. File: B-310442 Date: December 13, 2007 John T. Flynn, Esq., Weinberg, Wheeler, Hudgins, Gunn & Dial, LLP, for the protester. Matthew R. Keiser, Esq., U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, for the agency. Mary G. Curcio, Esq., and John M. Melody, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Protest challenging agency's evaluation of protester's technical proposal and resulting exclusion from competitive range is denied where record shows agency reasonably downgraded proposal on basis that it failed to address, or inadequately addressed, material solicitation requirements. DECISION D&J Enterprises, Inc. protests the exclusion of its proposal from the competitive range under request for proposals (RFP) No. W912P8-07-R-0101, issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, for debris management services. D&J argues that the Corps unreasonably evaluated its technical proposal, and that its proposal's elimination from the competitive range therefore was improper. We deny the protest. The RFP provided for a –best value— evaluation based on price and four equally weighted technical factors: past performance; management/operations plan (with subfactors for organizational structure/key personnel, technical approach and methodology, geographic area management, safety-site specific safety and health plan, quality control plan, waste reduction/recycling strategy); small business subcontracting plan; and technical approach to sample task order (with subfactors for technical approach, production rate, use of local subcontractors, and activity hazard analysis). RFP sect. M, at 110. The Corps received and evaluated 23 proposals.[1] D&J's proposal was rated low risk for past performance; acceptable for management/operations plan with, as relevant here, subfactor ratings of acceptable for organization and key personnel, unacceptable for geographic area management, marginal for contractor quality control plan, and unacceptable for disaster debris waste and recycling strategy; marginal for small business subcontracting plan; and acceptable for sample task order with, as relevant, a subfactor rating of unacceptable for job hazard analysis. Consensus Evaluation. The contracting officer and the source selection authority reviewed the evaluation results and concluded that D&J's proposal was not among the most highly rated, and eliminated it from the competitive range. Competitive Range Determination at 2, 3. The Corps included the eight highest-rated proposals in the competitive range. D&J asserts that the Corps unreasonably evaluated its proposal, specifically challenging many of the weaknesses that resulted in its assigned ratings, and concludes that it should not have been eliminated from the competitive range. We will review an agency's evaluation and exclusion of a proposal from the competitive range for reasonableness and consistency with the solicitation criteria and applicable statutes and regulations. Novavax, Inc., B-286167, B-286167.2, Dec. 4, 2000, 2000 CPD para. 202 at 13. Contracting agencies are not required to retain in the competitive range proposals that are not among the most highly rated or that the agency otherwise reasonably concludes have no realistic prospect of being selected for award. Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) sect. 15.306(c)(1); Wahkontah Servs., Inc., B-292768, Nov. 18, 2003, 2003 CPD para. 214 at 4. We have reviewed the record and conclude that the evaluation of D&J's proposal and its resultant exclusion from the competitive range were reasonable. We discuss several of the protester's arguments below. ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE/KEY PERSONNEL Under the organizational structure and key personnel subfactor of the management/operations plan factor, offerors were required to provide resumes, letters of intent, an explanation of the division of responsibilities, and the management organizational structure to the field supervisory level. RFP sect. J, attach. 6, at 63, sect. M, at 110.