AAR Defense Systems & Logistics

B-413284 Sep 22, 2016 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights AAR Defense Systems & Logistics, of Wood Dale, Illinois, protests the Department of the Air Force's award of a contract to L-3 Communications Vertex Aerospace, LLC, pursuant to request for proposals (RFP) No. FA8130-14-R-0002 to provide various support services for KC-10 aircraft. AAR maintains that the agency failed to properly consider AAR's experience, asserting that the agency improperly evaluated the offerors' proposals under various evaluation factors, and failed to properly perform a cost/technical tradeoff. 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:  AAR Defense Systems & Logistics File:  B-413284 Date:  September 22, 2016 Joel Singer, Esq., Mark P. Guerrera, Esq., Patrick K. O’Keefe, Esq., and Kyle J. Fiet, Esq., Sidley Austin LLP, for the protester. Craig A. Holman, Esq., Kara L. Daniels, Esq., and Amanda Johnson, Esq., Arnold & Porter LLP, for L-3 Communications Vertex Aerospace, LLC, the intervenor. Maj. George M. Ebert, and Lt. Col. Christine C. Piper, Department of the Air Force, for the agency. Glenn G. Wolcott, Esq., and Christina Sklarew, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST 1.  Agency reasonably determined that an evaluated weakness in the awardee’s proposal was not a significant discriminator between the awardee’s and the protester’s proposals, and that the evaluated weakness was not a basis to assign a higher technical risk rating.  2.  Agency reasonably evaluated awardee’s past performance as satisfactory based on the agency’s consideration of various references submitted by the awardee, along with additional information. 3.  Agency reasonably evaluated awardee’s proposed price as realistic where it compared the proposed prices to each other and to the independent government estimate, and considered additional data and explanation supporting the awardee’s proposed price.  4.  Protest that agency failed to perform a cost/technical tradeoff is denied where the agency’s source selection decision expressly considered the offerors’ prices and concluded that protester’s slightly higher-rated proposal was not worth its higher price.  DECISION AAR Defense Systems & Logistics, of Wood Dale, Illinois, protests the Department of the Air Force’s award of a contract to L-3 Communications Vertex Aerospace, LLC, pursuant to request for proposals (RFP) No. FA8130-14-R-0002 to provide various support services for KC-10 aircraft.[1]  AAR maintains that the agency failed to properly consider AAR’s experience,[2] asserting that the agency improperly evaluated the offerors’ proposals under various evaluation factors, and failed to properly perform a cost/technical tradeoff.  We deny the protest. BACKGROUND In November 2014, the agency published the RFP at issue, seeking fixed-price proposals to provide maintenance and logistics support services for a quantity of KC-10 aircraft.[3]  The solicitation provided for award on a best-value basis and established the following evaluation factors:  technical,[4] technical risk,[5] past performance,[6] and price.[7]  AR, Tab 16, Evaluation Factors, at 1, 3.  The solicitation provided that tradeoffs would be made between technical risk, past performance, and price, and stated that technical risk was significantly more important than past performance and that, combined, technical risk and past performance were approximately equal in importance to price.  Id.