N3 Government Solutions, LLC

B-411303.2 Sep 09, 2015 Jump To FULL REPORT VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights N3 Government Solutions, LLC (N3GS), of Fayetteville, North Carolina, a small business, protests the award of a contract to Veteran Solutions, Inc. (VSI), of Glen Burnie, Maryland, by the Department of Defense, Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), under request for proposals (RFP) No. HDTRA1-14-R-0018 for administrative support services at various DTRA locations. N3GS argues that DTRA unreasonably failed to allow the Small Business Administration (SBA) additional time to consider N3GS under the SBA's certificate of competency process. 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. No party requested redactions; we are therefore releasing the decision in its entirety. Decision Matter of: N3 Government Solutions, LLC File: B-411303.2 Date: September 9, 2015 Christopher R. Shiplett, Esq., Danielle N. Hart, Esq., and Nishat Azam, Esq., Randolph Law, PLLC, for the protester. Eric S. Lipsetts, Esq., Eric Lipsetts, P.A., for Veteran Solutions, Inc., the intervenor. Steven P. Cullen, Esq., Defense Threat Reduction Agency; John W. Klein, Esq. and Meagan K. Guerzon, Esq., Small Business Administration, for the agencies. Paul N. Wengert, Esq., and Tania Calhoun, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Protest that the contracting officer improperly denied a request by the Small Business Administration for additional time to consider issuing a certificate of competency is denied where the protester has not shown that the contracting officer’s action was affected by fraud or bad faith. DECISION N3 Government Solutions, LLC (N3GS), of Fayetteville, North Carolina, a small business, protests the award of a contract to Veteran Solutions, Inc. (VSI), of Glen Burnie, Maryland, by the Department of Defense, Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), under request for proposals (RFP) No. HDTRA1-14-R-0018 for administrative support services at various DTRA locations. N3GS argues that DTRA unreasonably failed to allow the Small Business Administration (SBA) additional time to consider N3GS under the SBA’s certificate of competency process. We deny the protest. BACKGROUND DTRA issued the RFP on October 20, 2014, seeking proposals from service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses (SDVOSB) to provide administrative support services at DTRA locations in Fort Belvoir, Virginia; Eglin Air Force Base, Florida; Albuquerque, New Mexico; West Point, New York; Travis Air Force Base, California; and Kleber Kaserne, Kaiserslautern, Germany. The services included clerical and secretarial support, desktop publishing services, and event coordination, which were to be provided under an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (ID/IQ) contract. RFP at 5-10. The RFP specified that the contract would have a 5‑year ordering period and a maximum value of $50 million. Id. at 14, 22. The RFP provided that a contract would be awarded to the offeror that submitted the lowest-priced technically acceptable proposal. The evaluation of technical acceptability was to be assessed under two factors: technical and past performance. Id. at 95. The technical factor, in turn, consisted of two subfactors: management approach; and qualifications, personnel, and clearances. Id. at 96. In order to be eligible for award, an offeror’s proposal had to be rated acceptable under both factors and, in turn, under both technical subfactors. Id. at 95, 97. With respect to the qualifications, personnel, and clearances subfactor, among other things, the RFP provided that the evaluation would consider the offeror’s ability to hold a TOP SECRET facility clearance at time of proposal submission. Facility security clearance must have been obtained or updated within the past 10 years for a TOP SECRET clearance. All personnel utilized in the performance of the contract must be U.S. citizens and have at minimum a secret clearance. Id. at 96 (¶ L.2.6).[1] DTRA received proposals from 24 SDVOSB offerors, of which 18 were evaluated as technically acceptable and had acceptable past performance. Contracting Officer’s Statement at 2. Although N3GS offered the lowest price, its proposal was rated unacceptable under the qualifications, personnel, and clearances subfactor (and therefore unacceptable under the technical factor), because the firm stated that it had an interim top secret facility security clearance, rather than a final clearance. Id.; see also AR, Tab 4, N3GS Proposal (excerpt), at 1 (“Interim / Top Secret” clearance listing). On March 23, the contracting officer awarded the contract to VSI as the lowest-priced technically acceptable offeror.