Duluth Travel, Inc.

B-410967.3 Jun 29, 2015 Jump To FULL REPORT VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Duluth Travel, Inc., of Duluth, Georgia, protests the issuance of a task order to Cruise Ventures Inc. d/b/a CI Travel, of Virginia Beach, Virginia, by the United States Agency for International Development, under request for quotations (RFQ) No. SOL-OAA-14-000082, for travel agent services. Duluth alleges the agency unreasonably evaluated the firm's past performance and made a flawed source selection decision. 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:      Duluth Travel, Inc. File:                B-410967.3 Date:              June 29, 2015 Ronald F. Thomas II, Esq., Thomas Law Center, for the protester. Barry Roberts, Esq., Roberts Attorneys, P.A., for Cruise Ventures Inc. d/b/a CI Travel, the intervenor. Scott Risner, Esq., and M. Katherine Stroker, Esq., United States Agency for International Development, for the agency. Matthew T. Crosby, Esq., Lois Hanshaw, Esq., and Glenn G. Wolcott, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Protest challenging agency’s evaluation of protester’s past performance is denied where record reflects evaluation was reasonable and consistent with terms of solicitation. DECISION Duluth Travel, Inc., of Duluth, Georgia, protests the issuance of a task order to Cruise Ventures Inc. d/b/a CI Travel, of Virginia Beach, Virginia, by the United States Agency for International Development, under request for quotations (RFQ) No. SOL-OAA-14-000082, for travel agent services.  Duluth alleges the agency unreasonably evaluated the firm’s past performance and made a flawed source selection decision. We deny the protest. BACKGROUND On March 26, 2014, the agency issued the solicitation, pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation subpart 8.4, through the General Services Administration e‑Buy system to vendors holding contracts under Federal Supply Schedule 599, Travel Service Solutions.  RFQ at 1.  The solicitation sought a range of travel agent services to meet the agency’s domestic and international travel requirements.  RFQ at 5.  Duluth is the incumbent contractor for this requirement.  See Contracting Officer’s Statement at 2. The solicitation contemplated the award of a fixed-price task order with a 1-year base period and four 1-year option periods.  RFQ at 3.  Award was to be made on a best value tradeoff basis, considering the following four factors:  technical approach, personnel, past performance, and price.  Id. at 39-40.  Regarding the relative weight of these factors, the solicitation stated: Technical approach, personnel and past performance are significantly more important than price.  However, the Government will not make an award at a significantly higher overall price to the Government to achieve only a slightly superior technical performance.  Overall price may be more significant as quotations are determined to be equal based on other non-price factors. Id. at 40.  Thus, the solicitation established the non-price factors as significantly more important than price, but provided that if quotations were evaluated as equal or nearly equal under the non-price factors, price would become more important. Under the past performance factor, the solicitation instructed vendors to provide between three and five past performance reports from recent, similar contracts.  RFQ at 36.  The solicitation advised that in addition to these reports, the agency would consider “[o]ther sources of past performance information, such as CPARS [Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System] reports.”  Id. at 37.  The solicitation also advised that the agency would evaluate vendors’ past performance in the following four areas:  quality of product or service; timeliness of performance; customer satisfaction; and key personnel effectiveness.  Id. at 40. The agency received quotations from [DELETED] vendors, including Duluth and CI Travel.  Agency Report (AR), Tab 8, Mem. of Negotiation, at 3.  A technical evaluation committee (TEC) evaluated the quotations and assigned adjectival ratings under each non-price factor.[1]  Id.