Graybar

B-410886 Mar 04, 2015 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Graybar, of Lanham, Maryland, protests the exclusion of its proposal from the competitive range under request for proposals (RFP) No. SPM8E3-14-R-0007, issued by the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) Troop Support for maintenance, repair, and operations supply items and services. The protester asserts that DLA's evaluation of its proposal was unreasonable and inconsistent with the RFP. We deny the protest. We deny the protest. View Decision Decision Matter of:      Graybar File:                B-410886 Date:              March 4, 2015 Ron Drescher for the protester. Nicole M. Franchetti, Esq., Defense Logistics Agency, for the agency. Frank Maguire, Esq., Cherie J. Owen, Esq., and David A. Ashen, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Protest of exclusion of proposal from competitive range is denied where the record shows that agency reasonably evaluated protester’s proposal and concluded that the proposal was not among the most highly rated. DECISION Graybar, of Lanham, Maryland, protests the exclusion of its proposal from the competitive range under request for proposals (RFP) No. SPM8E3-14-R-0007, issued by the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) Troop Support for maintenance, repair, and operations supply items and services.  The protester asserts that DLA’s evaluation of its proposal was unreasonable and inconsistent with the RFP. We deny the protest.  BACKROUND The RFP, issued on March 26, 2014, contemplated the award of a five-year, fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (ID/IQ) contract for plumbing supplies, electrical products, tools, construction supplies, and other commercial supplies associated with the maintenance, repair, and operations of facilities, as well as services incidental to the supply of these products.  Under the RFP, these products and services will be supplied to DLA customers located in the North Central United States, under the Maintenance, Repair, and Operations Tailored Logistics Support Prime Vendor Program. Award was to be made to the offeror whose proposal represented the best value to the government considering the following factors:  past performance; technical merit, including subfactors (in descending order of importance) for product sourcing, distribution/delivery, and socioeconomic objectives; and price.  Past performance was more important than technical merit, while the non-price factors combined were significantly more important than price.  AR, Tab 1, RFP, at 68-72. With respect to past performance, the solicitation provided for evaluation of both the relevancy of recent efforts and contractor performance.  RFP at 69-70.  The agency’s consideration of the relevancy of past performance was to include the similarity, recency, length, volume, delivery points, and dollar value of prior contracts.  RFP at 69.  Contracts determined to be not relevant were not to be included in the past performance evaluation.  RFP at 70.  For relevant contracts, the agency’s consideration of contractor performance was to include the degree to which the offeror met the terms of delivery, quality standards and socioeconomic goals, and was able to achieve customer satisfaction.  Id. at 69-70.  Regarding technical merit, the RFP required offerors to provide “written evidence” for all carriers, distribution centers, and consolidation points that the offerors planned to utilize in the performance of the contract or that were referenced in the proposal.  RFP at 60-61.  The solicitation provided that the agency would evaluate price based on an analysis of several pricing calculations including, as relevant here, offerors’ proposed prices for price evaluation list items.  Id. at 72.  As set forth in the RFP, the price evaluation list contained a representative sample of the types of items that could be purchased under the contract.  Id. at 65.     Graybar was one of several offerors to submit proposals.