B-400135; B-400135.2, Lockheed Martin MS2 Tactical Systems, August 8, 2008

B-400135; B-400135.2, Lockheed Martin MS2 Tactical Systems, August 8, 2008 TITLE: B-400135; B-400135.2, Lockheed Martin MS2 Tactical Systems, August 8, 2008 BNUMBER: B-400135; B-400135.2 DATE: August 8, 2008 ************************************************************************** B-400135; B-400135.2, Lockheed Martin MS2 Tactical Systems, August 8, 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: Lockheed Martin MS2 Tactical Systems File: B-400135; B-400135.2 Date: August 8, 2008 Marcia G. Madsen, Esq., Cameron S. Hamrick, Esq., David A. Dowd, Esq., Roger D. Waldron, Esq., Luke Levasseur, Esq., Melissa L. Baker, Esq., and Sarah A. Sulkowski, Esq., Mayer Brown; and Bucky P. Mansuy, Esq., Lockheed Martin MS2 Tactical Systems, for the protester. John W. Chierichella, Esq., Anne B. Perry, Esq., Jonathan S. Aronie, Esq., Keith R. Szeliga, Esq., Jesse J. Williams, Esq., and Daniel J. Marcinak, Esq., Sheppard Mullin, for Northrop Grumman, the intervenor. Bridget A. Jarvis, Esq., Christopher J. Biglin, Esq., Russell P. Spindler, Esq., Gregory Ircink, Esq., Stephanie Kroke, Esq., and Kristopher Fischer, Esq., Naval Air Systems Command, 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 Agency reasonably determined, in procurement for unmanned maritime surveillance aircraft, that awardee had significant advantage over protester with respect to past performance where: protester's subcontractor, responsible for approximately 50 percent of contract effort, had recent past performance history of being unable to resolve staffing and resource issues, resulting in adverse cost and schedule performance on very relevant contracts for unmanned aircraft; record did not demonstrate that protester's subcontractor had implemented systemic improvement that resulted in improved performance; while operating division of the awardee also had performance problems on very relevant contracts for unmanned aircraft, many had been addressed through systemic improvement; and overall performance of awardee's team on most evaluated contract efforts was rated better than satisfactory, while the overall performance of protester's team on 11 of 26 contract efforts was only marginal. DECISION Lockheed Martin MS2 Tactical Systems (LM) protests the Naval Air Systems Command's (NAVAIR) award of a contract to Northrop Grumman (NG) under request for proposals (RFP) No. N00019-07-R-0001, for the Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) Unmanned Aircraft System(UAS). LM challenges the evaluation of proposals and resulting source selection. We deny the protest. The Navy generally expects that the BAMS UAS will provide a persistent maritime Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) data collection and dissemination capability to the fleet, with BAMS on station 24 hours a day, 365 days a year for 20 years. Hearing Transcript (Tr.) at 47. The Statement of Objectives for BAMS (SOO) included in the RFP established the objective that each BAMS orbit (unit) provide (with no more than three aircraft aloft simultaneously) continuous surveillance capability for a minimum of 24 hours per day for 7 consecutive days, with an Effective Time on Station (ETOS) of no less than 80 percent, at a minimum mission range of 2,000 nautical miles (nm). BAMS SOO sections 1.0-3.1. Likewise, the Performance Based System Specification for BAMS (PBSS) included in the RFP required that the BAMS UAS "be capable of maintaining 80 percent (Threshold) and 95 percent (Objective) ETOS executed within a period of 168 continuous hours at a mission radius of 2000 Nautical Mile (nm) from its operating base." PBSS sect. 3.1.1. At Initial Operational Capability (IOC), defined as one base unit with sufficient assets to operationally support one persistent ISR orbit, the BAMS UAS missions will include maritime surveillance, collection of enemy order of battle information, battle damage assessment, port surveillance, communication relay, and support of maritime interdiction, surface warfare, battlespace management, and targeting for maritime and littoral strike missions. (At full operational capability, the BAMS UAS will provide for up to five simultaneous orbits worldwide.) While the objective is to achieve IOC in fiscal year (FY) 2113 or earlier, the minimum threshold requirement is for an IOC in FY 2014.