Midwest Tube Fabricators, Inc.

B-412579 Mar 30, 2016 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Midwest Tube Fabricators, Inc., of Sterling Heights, Michigan, protests the award of a contract to Twin Services, Inc., of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, under request for proposals (RFP) No. SPE7LX-15-R-0066, issued by the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), DLA Land and Maritime, for vehicular maintenance kits. Midwest contends that DLA improperly determined that Twin Services' proposal satisfied the solicitation requirement that a critical part in the kits be traceable to the approved source or its authorized distributor. 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:  Midwest Tube Fabricators, Inc. File:  B-412579 Date:  March 30, 2016 Cindy Victor, Esq., Kus Ryan & Associates, PLLC, for the protester. Colleen T. Loughran, Esq., Defense Logistics Agency, for the agency. Charles W. Morrow, Esq., and David A. Ashen, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Protest that awardee’s proposal was unacceptable is denied where the agency reasonably concluded that the awardee had satisfied the solicitation traceability requirement with respect to a critical part in that the documentation furnished in response to the agency’s inquiries reasonably indicated that the part to be furnished could be traced to an approved source or its authorized distributor. DECISION Midwest Tube Fabricators, Inc., of Sterling Heights, Michigan, protests the award of a contract to Twin Services, Inc., of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, under request for proposals (RFP) No. SPE7LX-15-R-0066, issued by the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), DLA Land and Maritime, for vehicular maintenance kits.  Midwest contends that DLA improperly determined that Twin Services’ proposal satisfied the solicitation requirement that a critical part in the kits be traceable to the approved source or its authorized distributor. We deny the protest. BACKGROUND The RFP, issued on May 2, 2015, as a service-disabled veteran-owned small business set-aside, contemplated the award on a best-value basis of a fixed-price indefinite-quantity contract, for three base years, for vehicular maintenance kits, NSN (National Stock Number) 2590-01-496-0055.[1]  RFP at 4, 7.  Offerors were required to propose unit prices for each base year based on four quantity ranges of kits:  (1) 100-1,054 kits, (2) 1,055-2,108, (3) 2,109-3,513, and (4) 3,514-5,620.  Id. at 5-6.  For the second and third base years, the solicitation required offerors to propose a percentage of increase or decrease, or state no change, to its base year prices.  Id. As relevant here, the RFP included a traceability requirement for the lockwashers required to be included in each kit, providing as follows: ITEM NO. 11 ON BASIC DWG [drawing] 2590LTST-0001 IS A CRITICAL ITEM, WHICH CAN HAVE SAFETY ISSUES IF PROCURED FROM UNAPPROVED SOURCES.  ITEM NO. 11 IS FOR A QUANTITY OF 4 LOCKWASHERS & EACH LOCKWASHER RELATES TO AM GENERAL’S CAGE [Commercial and Government Entity] 34623 & P/N [part/number] 5584462.  THESE LOCKWASHERS HAVE 15 TABS ON THE OUTSIDE DIAMETER AND ONE TAB ON THE INSIDE DIAMETER. TRACEABILITY CERTIFICATION OF COMPLIANCE FROM AM GENERAL IS ALSO REQUIRED FOR THIS COMPONENT I/A/W [in accordance with] DLAD [DLA Directive] 52.211-9014. RFP at 7.  DLAD 52.211-9014 provides that the contractor shall “retain evidence to document that items furnished under this contract conform to contract requirements,” and states that the: [e]vidence will generally include information tracing the items back to the manufacturing source or its authorized distributor.  At a minimum, evidence shall be sufficient to establish the identity of the item, its manufacturing source, and conformance to the item description. DLAD 52.211-9014(b)(1).  This clause further provides that:  The Contractor shall provide documentation of traceability for review‑‑ (i) Upon request by the Contracting Officer at any time prior to or after award; (ii) At time of Government source inspection, if applicable; and/or (iii) During random or directed post-award audits. DLAD 52.211-9014(b)(4). Two offerors, Midwest and Twin Services, responded to the RFP by the closing date of June 1.  Following two rounds of negotiations, DLA determined the evaluated price of Twin Services’ proposal to be $475,127 and of Midwest’s proposal to be $484,395.  Agency Report (AR), Tab 2, Price Negotiation Memorandum, at 2, 4. On October 1, DLA requested Twin Services to provide documentation establishing the traceability of its proposed lockwasher P/N 5584462 to AM General, the manufacturer and an approved source for the item.  As examples of acceptable documentation, the agency advised Twin Services that it could...