Sapient Government Services, Inc.

B-410636 Jan 20, 2015 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Sapient Government Services, Inc., of Arlington, Virginia, protests the establishment of a blanket purchase agreement (BPA) with Accenture Federal Services, LLC, of Arlington, Virginia, under request for quotations (RFQ) No. YA1323-14-CH-0004, issued by the Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, for technical services in support of the agency's Digital Transformation Program (DTP). Sapient challenges the agency's evaluation of its quotation. We deny the protest. We deny the protest. View Decision 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: Sapient Government Services, Inc. File: B-410636 Date: January 20, 2015 Carol L. O’Riordan, Esq., Pamela J. Bethel, Esq., and Anthony J. Marchese, Esq., O'Riordan Bethel Law Firm, LLP, for the protester. John E. McCarthy Jr., Esq., Jonathan M. Baker, Esq., and Robert J. Sneckenberg, Esq., Crowell & Moring LLP, for Accenture Federal Services, LLC, an intervenor. Amy Kiger Crotts, Esq., Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, for the agency. Susan K. McAuliffe, Esq., and Edward Goldstein, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Protest challenging agency’s evaluation of protester’s quotation is denied where record establishes that the evaluation was reasonable and consistent with terms of the solicitation. DECISION Sapient Government Services, Inc., of Arlington, Virginia, protests the establishment of a blanket purchase agreement (BPA) with Accenture Federal Services, LLC, of Arlington, Virginia, under request for quotations (RFQ) No. YA1323-14-CH-0004, issued by the Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, for technical services in support of the agency’s Digital Transformation Program (DTP). Sapient challenges the agency’s evaluation of its quotation. We deny the protest. BACKGROUND The agency issued the RFQ on August 27, 2014 using the simplified Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) procedures established under Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 8.4. The RFQ was issued to vendors holding FSS contracts under General Services Administration Information Technology Schedule 70, and anticipated the establishment of a BPA (for a base period and 4 option years) and the issuance of an initial task order (call order No. 1, the terms of which were included in the solicitation). Memorandum of Law at 4. The BPA is intended to support the agency’s DTP initiatives, which include improving the agency’s website search, navigation, and communication functions; transferring information to a new content management system; developing a mobile content strategy; and deploying mobile applications. Id. at 3. Services contemplated under the BPA relate to the following eight functional areas: (1) digital web; (2) content migration; (3) semantic search platform; (4) customer experience management; (5) web metrics analysis; (6) interactive web tool development; (7) personalized user portal design/implementation; and (8) roadmap for future mobile access. Id. at 4. Selection of the vendor for establishment of the BPA was to be made on a best-value basis using a tradeoff process considering four technical evaluation factors and price. According to the RFQ, the technical factors, when combined, were to be given significantly more importance than price in the tradeoff analysis. RFQ, Amend. No. 2, Instructions, at 11, 16. The four equally-weighted technical factors were as follows: (1) technical and management solution; (2) similar experience and past performance for the BPA; (3) subcontracting plan/teaming arrangement; and (4) key personnel for call order No. 1. Id. at 7-14. The technical and management solution factor was comprised of the following four equally-weighted subfactors: approach to managing an agile process; technical solution for BPA; management solution for BPA; and technical approach to call order No. 1. Id. at 7-8, 11-12. Technical proposals were to be presented orally during a technical exchange presentation that was to be “sufficiently detailed, specific, and complete to enable the Government to thoroughly evaluate” proposed solutions. Id. at 6. To guide their oral presentations, vendors were instructed to submit Powerpoint slide presentations. The RFQ advised that only slides presented during the allotted time for the technical presentation would be evaluated. See id. (establishing that slides not presented during the allotted time for the technical presentation “will not be evaluated by the Government”).[1] Four vendors responded to the RFQ, to include Sapient and Accenture. After the vendor presentations--Sapient’s presentation included 107 Powerpoint slides--the agency rated Sapient’s quotation last in terms of technical merit.