E3 Federal Solutions, LLC

B-408936 Jan 02, 2014 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Aljucar, Anvil-Incus & Company (AAI), of Washington, DC, protests the terms of request for proposals (RFP) No. GS00Q-13-DR-0001, issued by the General Services Administration (GSA) for the award of multiple contracts supporting the agency's One Acquisition Solution for Integrated Services (OASIS) program. AAI contends that the RFP's experience requirements for joint ventures are unduly restrictive of competition. We deny the protest. View Decision Decision Matter of: Aljucar, Anvil-Incus & Co. File: B-408936 Date: January 2, 2014 Rudy Sutherland for the protester. John E. Cornell, Esq., General Services Administration, for the agency. Christina Sklarew, Esq., and Guy R. Pietrovito, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Protester’s contention that a solicitation is unduly restrictive of competition because it requires that potential joint venture offerors must demonstrate relevant experience for the joint venture itself--and not the individual business entities forming the joint venture--is denied where the record supports the agency’s position that the requirement is reasonably necessary to meet the agency’s needs. DECISION Aljucar, Anvil-Incus & Company (AAI), of Washington, DC, protests the terms of request for proposals (RFP) No. GS00Q-13-DR-0001, issued by the General Services Administration (GSA) for the award of multiple contracts supporting the agency’s One Acquisition Solution for Integrated Services (OASIS) program.[1] AAI contends that the RFP’s experience requirements for joint ventures are unduly restrictive of competition. We deny the protest. BACKGROUND The OASIS procurement was designed by GSA to establish multiple indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contracts, under which fixed-price, cost-reimbursement, time-and-materials, and labor-hour task orders could be issued for a range of complex professional services, including program management, management consulting, logistics, engineering, scientific, and financial services. Agency Report (AR) at 2; see also http://gsa.gov/portal/category/105799. GSA conducted market research to determine how to structure the procurement. See AR, Tab 6, Decl. of OASIS Deputy Director, at 1; see also AR, Tab 1, Business Case Analysis; Tab 3, Market Research Summary--Joint Ventures. Following its market research, GSA issued two solicitations for OASIS contracts: the RFP here, which was unrestricted, and RFP No. GS00Q-13-DR-0002, which was set aside for small businesses. AAI challenges only the terms of the unrestricted RFP. The RFP states that OASIS consists of a family of seven “pools” of contracts comprising numerous North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes. RFP at 10, 16, 71.[2] Offerors were informed that an offeror may compete for more than one pool, but that offerors were restricted to the submission of a single proposal. Id. at 87. The RFP provides for a two-phased process for evaluating proposals under a number of evaluation factors, including, as relevant here, experience and past performance factors. In the first phase, proposals would be evaluated on a pass/fail basis. If found to be acceptable, proposals would be qualitatively evaluated in the second phase. Id. at 130-44. Extensive and detailed instructions were provided for the preparation of proposals. Id. at 87-129. The RFP describes information that offerors must submit to satisfy the minimum experience requirements. Id. at 112-21, 132-33. As relevant here with respect to proposals from joint ventures, the RFP states that joint venture offerors must have proven experience and performance under an existing contract team arrangement. Id. at 109. In this regard, the RFP informs offerors that the joint venture itself--and not the individual business entities forming the joint venture--must satisfy the RFP’s relevant experience requirement.[3] Id. at 109-110. Prior to the closing time for submission of proposals, AAI filed an agency-level protest with GSA. This protest to our Office followed GSA’s denial of AAI’s agency-level protest. DISCUSSION The crux of AAI’s protest is that the RFP is unduly restrictive of competition because the solicitation, with respect to joint venture offerors, limits consideration of experience to that of the joint venture itself. AAI complains that the solicitation does not allow newly-formed joint venture offerors to satisfy the experience requirements through the experience of the individual members of the joint venture.[4] Protest at 14-15; Comments at 4. Where a protester challenges a specification or requirement as unduly restrictive of competition, the procuring agency has the responsibility of establishing that the specification or requirement is reasonably necessary to meet the agency’s needs. See Total Health Resources, B-403209, Oct. 4, 2010, 2010 CPD ¶ 226 at 3.