TaxSlayer LLC

B-411101 May 08, 2015 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights TaxSlayer LLC, of Evans, Georgia, protests the cancellation of request for proposals (RFP) No. TIRNO-14-R-00028, issued by the Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service (IRS), for electronic tax return preparation and transmission software and support. TaxSlayer argues that the cancellation was improper because the agency failed to reasonably identify errors or defects in the solicitation. 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: TaxSlayer LLC File: B-411101 Date: May 8, 2015 John E. McCarthy, Jr., Esq., Jonathan M. Baker, Esq., and Olivia L. Lynch, Esq., Crowell & Moring LLP, for the protester. Lori R. Larson, Esq., David K. Barnes, Esq., and Richard L. Hatfield, Esq., Internal Revenue Service, for the agency. Heather Weiner, Esq., and Jonathan L. Kang, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Protest that the agency improperly cancelled the solicitation is denied where the record demonstrates that the agency reasonably cancelled the solicitation based on concerns regarding whether the solicitation’s requirements and evaluation criteria were adequately structured to reflect the agency’s needs. DECISION TaxSlayer LLC, of Evans, Georgia, protests the cancellation of request for proposals (RFP) No. TIRNO-14-R-00028, issued by the Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service (IRS), for electronic tax return preparation and transmission software and support. TaxSlayer argues that the cancellation was improper because the agency failed to reasonably identify errors or defects in the solicitation. We deny the protest. BACKGROUND On June 5, 2014, the IRS issued the solicitation for electronic tax return preparation and transmission software and support services for the Customer Assistance, Relationships and Education (CARE) organization within the IRS Wage and Investment Division. RFP at 5-6. CARE uses the tax software in support of IRS tax assistance programs, such as the Stakeholder Partnerships, Education and Communication (SPEC) organization. RFP at 5. SPEC partners with community‑based coalitions, non-profit organizations, and local city and state government agencies to provide free electronic tax preparation, through the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program and the Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) program, for taxpayers who are generally low-income, elderly, or disabled. Id. at 6. SPEC also partners with the Armed Forces Tax Council to provide free tax return preparation for active duty and retired military personnel. Id. For performance of these services, the solicitation stated that “CARE requires Desktop, Web-based Commercial Off-the-shelf (COTS) and Self-Preparer electronic tax preparation and transmission software and support, compliant with IRS electronic e-file and security requirements.” Id. at 6-7. The RFP anticipated a fixed‑price contract with a 1-year base period and four 1-year options. Id. at 4. The solicitation provided for award on a best-value basis, considering six factors, in descending order of importance: (1) technical approach, (2) management approach, (3) corporate experience, (4) past performance, (5) software testing and evaluation, and (6) price. Id. at 80. As relevant here, under the software testing and evaluation factor, the solicitation required that offerors provide web-based and desktop software samples of their professional software and self‑preparer software. Id. at 7, 85. The RFP stated that “[t]he Government will evaluate the software to identify that the functionality and ease of use are in accordance with software, operational, regulatory and security requirements, as per the [Performance Work Statement (PWS)],” and that, based on this evaluation, the vendor’s software would be rated as: fully meets, mostly meets, partially meets, or does not meet. Id. at 85. In addition, the solicitation stated that “[t]esting is part of the technical evaluation process and will be utilized to make determinations of whether or not the software allows use of the various forms required [ ] by end-users,” and “will include, but is not limited to, electronic filing, data submissions and other scenarios.” Id. The IRS received proposals from five offerors, including TaxSlayer and TaxWise, by the June 30 closing date. Contracting Officer (CO) Statement at 3. Following an initial evaluation of proposals, the contracting officer[1] established a competitive range of two offerors--TaxSlayer and TaxWise.