B-310966.2, Alanna Orr, May 14, 2008 MACROBUTTON nomacro

B-310966.2 May 14, 2008 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Alanna Orr protests the issuance of a purchase order to Jan Breakfield under request for quotations (RFQ) No. SO5SC0908278, issued by the Department of Agriculture, U.S. Forest Service, for janitorial services. The protester contends that Ms. Breakfield's quotation did not comply with technical requirements of the RFQ, that the agency improperly provided a sample quality control program to her, that she submitted plagiarized technical documents, and that she received preferential treatment. We deny the protest. View Decision B-310966.2, Alanna Orr, May 14, 2008 Decision Matter of: Alanna Orr File: B-310966.2 Date: May 14, 2008 Alanna Orr for the protester. Elin M. Dugan, Esq., for the Department of Agriculture. Frank Maguire, Esq., and John M. Melody, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Protest that successful quotation did not include adequate technical proposal, that agency improperly provided sample quality control program to successful vendor, and that successful vendor submitted plagiarized technical documents is denied where stated evaluation factors included only price and past performance; since evaluation of vendors' technical proposals, including quality control program and technical documents, was not a factor in evaluation, allegations regarding technical proposal do not provide a basis for challenging selection decision. DECISION Alanna Orr protests the issuance of a purchase order to Jan Breakfield under request for quotations (RFQ) No. SO5SC0908278, issued by the Department of Agriculture, U.S. Forest Service, for janitorial services. The protester contends that Ms. Breakfield's quotation did not comply with technical requirements of the RFQ, that the agency improperly provided a sample quality control program to her, that she submitted plagiarized technical documents, and that she received preferential treatment. We deny the protest. The RFQ requested quotations for janitorial services at the Forest Service's Big Valley Ranger District Office for a period of 1 year, with two 1-year options. The RFQ, in the statement of work (SOW), required that vendors establish a quality control program and an operating plan, setting forth, inter alia, a schedule of services, areas to be serviced, and estimated time to complete work in each area. RFQ at 5-6. The RFQ provided that the government would issue an order –to the responsible quoter whose quote conforming to the solicitation will be most advantageous to the Government, price and relative past performance considered.— Id. at 38. Quotations were received from Ms. Orr and Ms. Breakfield. The agency ultimately selected Ms. Breakfield's quotation on the basis of her significantly lower price. Agency Report (AR) at 54-55, Contracting Officer's Statement, Dec. 20, 2007. On December 17, 2007, Ms. Orr filed a protest in our Office challenging issuance of the order to Ms. Breakfield, contending that Ms. Breakfield's quotation did not comply with requirements of the RFQ, that Ms. Breakfield (but no other vendor) improperly had been provided a sample quality control program, and that Ms. Breakfield received preferential treatment as a result of her relationship with an employee in the contracting office. Subsequent to the filing of that protest, the agency advised us that it would take corrective action by assigning a different evaluator and reevaluating the quotations based only on past performance and price, as provided by the RFQ. Based on this corrective action, we dismissed the protest as academic (B-310966, Jan. 16, 2008). The new evaluator evaluated the quotations based on price and past performance. Using a numerical points system, he ranked Ms. Orr's quotation higher than Ms. Breakfield's in past performance, but lower on price with regard to every line item. Following the reevaluation, the contracting officer again issued the purchase order to Ms. Breakfield, finding that, –taking into consideration both price and past performance,— her quotation provided –the best value to the government.— AR at 38. This protest followed. Ms. Orr challenges the selection on the basis that technical information included in Ms. Breakfield's quotation was inadequate in several respects. Specifically, Ms. Orr claims that Ms. Breakfield failed to provide an adequate quality control program and operating plan and did not provide for the use of approved products or address specific cleanliness requirements set forth in the solicitation, consistent with the RFQ. Ms. Orr further contends that the quality control program included in Ms. Breakfield's quotation was copied from a sample program provided to her, but no other vendor, by the agency, and that other technical documents were plagiarized.