B-311344; B-311344.3; B-311344.4; B-311344.6; B-311344.7; B-311344.8; B-311344.10; B-311344.11, The Boeing Company, June 18, 2008

B-311344; B-311344.3; B-311344.4; B-311344.6; B-311344.7; B-311344.8; B-311344.10; B-311344.11, The Boeing Company, June 18, 2008 TITLE: B-311344; B-311344.3; B-311344.4; B-311344.6; B-311344.7; B-311344.8; B-311344.10; B-311344.11, The Boeing Company, June 18, 2008 BNUMBER: B-311344; B-311344.3; B-311344.4; B-311344.6; B-311344.7; B-311344.8; B-311344.10; B-311344.11 DATE: June 18, 2008 ********************************************************************************************************************************* B-311344; B-311344.3; B-311344.4; B-311344.6; B-311344.7; B-311344.8; B-311344.10; B-311344.11, The Boeing Company, June 18, 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: The Boeing Company File: B-311344; B-311344.3; B-311344.4; B-311344.6; B-311344.7; B-311344.8; B-311344.10; B-311344.11 Date: June 18, 2008 Rand L. Allen, Esq., Paul F. Khoury, Esq., Scott M. McCaleb, Esq., Martin P. Willard, Esq., Nicole J. Owren-Wiest, Esq., Kara M. Sacilotto, Esq., Nicole P. Wishart, Esq., Jon W. Burd, Esq., Stephen J. Obermeier, Esq., and Heidi L. Bourgeois, Esq., Wiley Rein LLP; and Charles J. Cooper, Esq., Michael W. Kirk, Esq., and Howard C. Neilson, Esq., Cooper & Kirk; Lynda Guild Simpson, Esq., and Stephen J. Curran, Esq., The Boeing Company, for the protester. Neil H. O'Donnell, Esq., Allan J. Joseph, Esq., David F. Innis, Esq., Thomas D. Blanford, Esq., Aaron P. Silberman, Esq., Tyson Arbuthnot, Esq., Michelle L. Baker, Esq., James Robert Maxwell, Esq., and Suzanne M. Mellard, Esq., Rogers Joseph O'Donnell; and Joseph O. Costello, Esq., Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation, for the intervenor. Bryan R. O'Boyle, Esq., Col. Neil S. Whiteman, James A. Hughes, Esq., Col. Timothy Cothrel, Robert Balcerek, Esq., Maj. Christopher L. McMahon, W. Michael Rose, Esq., Stewart L. Noel, Esq., Gerald L. Trepkowski, Esq., Lynda Troutman O'Sullivan, Esq., John J. Thrasher III, Esq., Lt. Col. Thomas F. Doyon, Anthony P. Dattilo, Esq., Bridget E. Lyons, Esq., John R. Hart, Esq., Ronald G. Schumann, Esq., Maj. Steven M. Sollinger, Maj. Sandra M. DeBalzo, and John M. Taffany, Esq., Department of the Air Force, for the agency. Guy R. Pietrovito, Esq., and James A. Spangenberg, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST 1. Protest is sustained, where the agency, in making the award decision, did not assess the relative merits of the proposals in accordance with the evaluation criteria identified in the solicitation, which provided for a relative order of importance for the various technical requirements, and where the agency did not take into account the fact that one of the proposals offered to satisfy more "trade space" technical requirements than the other proposal, even though the solicitation expressly requested offerors to satisfy as many of these technical requirements as possible. 2. Protest is sustained, where the agency violated the solicitation's evaluation provision that "no consideration will be provided for exceeding [key performance parameter] KPP objectives" when it recognized as a key discriminator the fact that the awardee proposed to exceed a KPP objective relating to aerial refueling to a greater degree than the protester. 3. Protest is sustained, where the record does not demonstrate the reasonableness of the agency's determination that the awardee's proposed aerial refueling tanker could refuel all current Air Force fixed-wing tanker-compatible receiver aircraft in accordance with current Air Force procedures, as required by the solicitation. 4. Protest is sustained, where the agency conducted misleading and unequal discussions with the protester, where the agency informed the protester that it had fully satisfied a KPP objective relating to operational utility, but later determined that the protester only partially met this objective, without advising the offeror of this change in its assessment and while continuing to conduct discussions with the awardee relating to its satisfaction of the same KPP objective. 5. Protest is sustained, where the agency unreasonably determined that the awardee's refusal to agree to the specific solicitation requirement that it plan and support the agency to achieve initial organic depot-level maintenance within 2 years after delivery of the first full-rate production aircraft was an "administrative oversight," and improperly made award, despite this clear exception to a material solicitation requirement. 6.