Bunzl Distribution California, LLC

B-412475.3 May 25, 2016 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Southeastern Paper Group (SEPG), of Spartanburg, South Carolina, requests that we recommend that it be reimbursed the reasonable costs of filing and pursuing its protest of the award of a contract to Bunzl of California, under request for proposals (RFP) No. HDEC05-15-R-0003, issued by the Defense Commissary Agency (DeCA) for miscellaneous operating supplies. We deny the request. We deny the request. 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:  Southeastern Paper Group -- Costs File:  B-412475.3 Date:  May 25, 2016 Lee Dougherty, Esq., Offit Kurman Attorneys-at-Law, for the protester. Ralph J. Tremaglio, III, Esq., Defense Commissary Agency, for the agency. Frank Maguire, Esq., and Jennifer D. Westfall-McGrail, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Request for a GAO recommendation that the agency reimburse the protester for the costs of filing and pursuing its protest is denied where the record does not show that the initial protest was clearly meritorious, and the agency took prompt corrective action in response to the supplemental protest. DECISION Southeastern Paper Group (SEPG), of Spartanburg, South Carolina, requests that we recommend that it be reimbursed the reasonable costs of filing and pursuing its protest of the award of a contract to Bunzl of California, under request for proposals (RFP) No. HDEC05-15-R-0003, issued by the Defense Commissary Agency (DeCA) for miscellaneous operating supplies. We deny the request. BACKGROUND DeCA issued the RFP for miscellaneous operating supplies and paper bags for Continental United States (CONUS), Puerto Rico, Alaska, Hawaii, and Pacific Theater commissary stores on June 25, 2015.  The RFP contemplated the award of a requirements contract for each of nine geographical “clusters” of store locations for a base year and four option years, with fixed unit prices and fixed unit prices with economic price adjustment.  RFP at 101‑102; Contracting Officer’s Statement (COS) at 2.  Proposals could be submitted for an individual contract line item number (CLIN)/cluster, a combination of CLINs/clusters, or all nine CLINs/clusters.  Id. at 2.  Award was to be made on a lowest-priced technically acceptable basis, considering price, technical acceptability, and past performance.  Id.;  RFP at 82.  The date for submission of initial proposals was August 7, 2015.  Agency Report (AR) Tab 29, Source Selection Decision Document (SSDD), at 003558.  After two rounds of discussions, final proposals were due on September 8, 2015.  AR at 1-3; see RFP Amend. No. 4.  The RFP incorporated by reference Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) clause 252.225-7021, “Trade Agreements,”  RFP at 123,   which implements provisions of the Trade Agreements Act (TAA), 19 U.S.C. § 2501 et seq.[1]  Further, in RFP Amendment No. 1, in response to a question inquiring whether product components must also meet the “country of origin” standard, the agency advised: In requesting “Country of Origin” on the Solicitation Pricing Guide, it is DeCA’s intention to determine whether or not supplies purchased under any ensuing contract will comply with DFARS 252.225-7021, “Trade Agreements—Basic.”  The awardee has the obligation to comply with all terms and conditions of the contract, including DFARS 252.225-7021, which provides the answer to this question based on the source country. RFP Amend. No. 1, at 000360. DeCA received proposals from Bunzl, SEPG, and a third offeror.  AR at 2.  Following the initial evaluations, the Contracting Officer (CO) conducted discussions.  Id.  After the receipt of revised proposals, a second round of discussions was held and final proposals requested.  Id.  Based on SEPG’s concerns that other offerors’ prices were lower due to items being sourced from non-compliant countries, the CO published RFP Amendment No. 6 on August 27, 2015, to incorporate a new pricing sheet, and to incorporate a statement that offerors were required to acknowledge concerning the TAA.[2]  Id. at 3; COS at 7-9; RFP Amend. No. 6.  Following receipt of the final proposals, the agency determined that all three proposals clearly met the minimum requirements of the solicitation and that the offerors’ past performance was relevant and that each performed satisfactorily on past contracts.  AR at 3; COS at 8-9. Prompted by emails from SEPG, DeCA contacted various commissaries at which Bunzl was providing supplies under its existing contract to have them check packaging of six items to ensure that the items were from TAA compliant countries.