JRS Staffing Services

B-410708.3 Nov 09, 2015 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights JRS Staffing Services, a small business, of Lawrenceville, Georgia, requests that our Office recommend that it be reimbursed the reasonable costs of filing and pursuing its protest challenging the terms of request for quotations (RFQ) No. RFQP01011400015, issued by the Department of Justice, Bureau of Prisons (BOP), for horticultural program instruction services at a Federal Prison Camp (FPC) located in Alderson, West Virginia. We deny the request. We deny the request. View Decision Decision Matter of:  JRS Staffing Services--Costs File:  B-410708.3 Date:  November 9, 2015 Jacqueline R. Sims, for the protester. Pawandeep K. Chatha, Esq., and William D. Robinson, Esq., Department of Justice, Bureau of Prisons, for the agency. Young S. Lee, Esq., and Nora K. Adkins, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Request that our Office recommend reimbursement of the reasonable costs of filing and pursuing a protest challenging the terms of a solicitation is denied where protest was not clearly meritorious.    DECISION JRS Staffing Services, a small business, of Lawrenceville, Georgia, requests that our Office recommend that it be reimbursed the reasonable costs of filing and pursuing its protest challenging the terms of request for quotations (RFQ) No. RFQP01011400015, issued by the Department of Justice, Bureau of Prisons (BOP), for horticultural program instruction services at a Federal Prison Camp (FPC) located in Alderson, West Virginia. We deny the request.  BACKGROUND The solicitation was issued as a small business set-aside on September 19, 2014, under Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) part 12, Acquisition of Commercial Items, and part 13, Simplified Acquisition Procedures.  The RFQ anticipated the award of an indefinite-delivery, fixed-price, requirements contract for a 1-year base period and four 1-year options to the vendor whose quotation offered the best value to the government based upon the evaluation of three factors:  technical capability, past performance, and price.  RFQ at 1-2, 5-6, 18.  JRS filed its protest with our Office on October 17, challenging various aspects of the solicitation.  On November 13, the BOP took corrective action and amended the RFQ to address three of the issues raised by JRS in its protest (an alleged ambiguity related to treating vendors’ responses as quotations or proposals; an alleged ambiguity relating to the evaluation of options; and the omission of a FAR clause relating to the non-displacement of qualified workers).  Corrective Action Notice (Nov. 13, 2014) at 1-2.  We dismissed these aspects of JRS’s protest as academic.[1] Two protest issues remained after the agency’s corrective action:  (1) JRS’s allegation of a solicitation ambiguity with regard to FAR clause 52.217-8, relating to the option to extend services,[2] and (2) JRS’s allegation that the agency improperly incorporated three FAR clauses into the RFQ that were inconsistent with commercial practices, and that were included without conducting market research, as required by FAR §§ 12.301 and 12.302.  The three FAR clauses were:  52.203-3, Gratuities; 52.228-5, Insurance-Work on a Government Installation; and 52.242-13, Bankruptcy. In the agency report responding to the protest, the BOP argued that the contested clauses were properly included because the FAR requires the inclusion of these clauses for all acquisitions exceeding the simplified acquisition threshold (SAT), and provides no exception for commercial items.[3]  Agency Report (AR) (B‑410708) at 4.  Thus, the agency argued that it was not required to conduct market research (or obtain a waiver).  Id.  The agency also asserted that JRS had not provided specific evidence regarding how the clauses were inconsistent with commercial practices.[4]  Id.