Global Technical Systems

B-411230.2 Sep 09, 2015 Jump To FULL REPORT VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Global Technical Systems (GTS), of Virginia Beach, Virginia, a small business, protests the terms of solicitation No. N00024-15-R-5201, issued by the Department of the Navy, Naval Sea Systems Command, for common processing system technology insertion (TI) 16 equipment. GTS contends that the procurement should have been set aside for small businesses and that the solicitation does not provide sufficient information to allow offerors to compete on a common basis. We sustain the protest. We sustain 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:  Global Technical Systems File:  B-411230.2 Date:  September 9, 2015 William A. Roberts III, Esq., Richard B. O’Keeffe, Jr., Esq., and Samantha S. Lee, Esq., Wiley Rein LLP, for the protester. Gwendolyn Iaci, Esq., and Greg Lennon, Esq., Department of the Navy, for the agency. Cherie J. Owen, Esq., and David A. Ashen, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST 1.  Protest challenging the agency’s decision not to set aside a procurement for small business concerns is denied where the agency reasonably concluded from its market research that it did not have a reasonable expectation of receiving proposals from two or more small businesses capable of performing the required services at a fair and reasonable price. 2.  Protest that solicitation’s requirement for engineering services is ambiguous and vague is sustained where the solicitation fails to provide sufficient information to allow offerors to intelligently prepare their proposals and compete on a common basis for a fixed-price indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract. DECISION Global Technical Systems (GTS), of Virginia Beach, Virginia, a small business, protests the terms of solicitation No. N00024-15-R-5201, issued by the Department of the Navy, Naval Sea Systems Command, for common processing system technology insertion (TI) 16 equipment.  GTS contends that the procurement should have been set aside for small businesses and that the solicitation does not provide sufficient information to allow offerors to compete on a common basis. We sustain the protest. BACKGROUND The Navy’s common processing system (CPS) is a successor to the Navy’s mission critical enclosures equipment that was historically deployed aboard certain ships to house the combat system computing environment.  Protest at 8.  CPS is the main processing and data storage cabinet for surface ship combat and weapon systems, and it provides computer processing and memory, data storage and extraction, and input/output interfaces to support host software applications of Navy combat systems.  Agency Report (AR) at 3; AR, Tab 15, NAVSEA Brief to Small Business Office, at 2. A technology insertion (TI) is a replacement or upgrade of combat system computing hardware.  AR, Tab 3, Market Research Memorandum, at 4.  TIs are named for the specific model year (thus, TI 16 at issue in this procurement is the 2016 replacement or upgrade for the current CPS).  See id.  The government developed CPS TI 16 and designed it with advanced processing, storage, and system resource management to support new combat system capabilities.  Id. The RFP anticipates the issuance of a fixed-price indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (ID/IQ) contract, for a base year and four 1‑year options.  RFP at 38-40, 186.