American Access, Inc

B-414137.3 Apr 11, 2017 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights American Access, Inc., of Bartlett, Tennessee, protests the terms of amendment 15 to request for proposals (RFP) No. VA240C-14-R-0015, issued by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for modular ramps. The protester argues that the amendment and email transmitting the amendment contain patent ambiguities as to the date from which prices were requested to be extended for a set period of time. We deny the protest. We deny the protest. View Decision Decision Matter of:  American Access, Inc. File:  B-414137.3 Date:  April 11, 2017 Richard F. Busch II, Esq., Busch Law Firm, LLC, for the protester. Brian R. Reed, Esq., Department of Veterans Affairs, for the agency. Young H. Cho, Esq., and Christina Sklarew, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Protest arguing that solicitation amendment and email transmitting the amendment created an ambiguity as to the date from which prices were requested to be extended is denied where the amendment is not susceptible to two reasonable interpretations and the record shows that the protester in fact acknowledged the amendment in a manner that reflected the amendment’s intended meaning.  DECISION American Access, Inc., of Bartlett, Tennessee, protests the terms of amendment 15 to request for proposals (RFP) No. VA240C-14-R-0015, issued by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for modular ramps.  The protester argues that the amendment and email transmitting the amendment contain patent ambiguities as to the date from which prices were requested to be extended for a set period of time. We deny the protest. BACKGROUND The RFP, issued on October 9, 2015, under Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) parts 12 and 15 and set aside for small businesses, sought portable, modular ramps to be assembled at the homes of veterans who cannot navigate stairs, for three service area office (SAO) regions:[1]  SAO-East, SAO-West, and SAO-Central.  RFP[2] at 1, 14.  The solicitation contemplated the award of three fixed-price indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contracts with a 1-year base period and four 1-year options.  Original RFP at 5, 14, 31.  Awards were to be made by region, but the RFP also reserved the right to make awards by VISN or a combination of VISNs.  Id. at 14.  This protest concerns the pending awards in the SAO-East and West regions.[3] Award was to be made on a best-value basis, considering the following evaluation factors in descending order of importance:  technical capability, quality control program, past performance, veteran-owned business participation, and price.  RFP at 67-68.  The solicitation also states that the non-price factors, when combined, are significantly more important than price.  Id. at 68.  As relevant here, price proposals were to be submitted using a schedule on which offerors were to insert unit prices for both the base and option periods, for each contract line item number (CLIN) for the SAO or VISNs for which the offerors were competing.[4]  See id. at 57-58; see also Original RFP, attach. 1, Schedule of Items.  The majority of the CLINs consisted of ramp components (e.g., platforms, base ramps, thresholds etc.) of varying lengths.  See Original RFP, attach. 1, Schedule of Items.  The schedule of items specified the quantities for each CLIN.  Id. Also of relevance here, the solicitation included FAR provision 52.212.-1, Instructions to Offerors--Commercial Items (Apr. 2014), which stated in section (c), period for acceptance of offers, that “[t]he offeror agrees to hold the prices in its offer firm for 180 calendar days from the date specified for receipt of offers, unless another time period is specified in an addendum to the solicitation.”  Id. at 50. American Access submitted a timely response to the solicitation and was included in the competitive range.  On April 26, 2016, following discussions, the agency requested final proposal revisions (FPRs), to be submitted by May 11, 2016.  See American Access Request for FPRs East Region; American Access Request for FPRs West Region; see also RFP, amend. 11 at 01746.[5] The agency made additional changes to the solicitation in amendments 12 (May 2) and 13 (May 4), including changes to the schedule of items.  See RFP, amends. 12 and 13.  Amendment 13 extended the due date for FPRs to May 12, 2016.  RFP, amend. 13 at 001930, 001931.  American Access submitted its FPR on May 6, 2016.  See AR, Tab 1, American Access SAO-East FPR; AR, Tab 2, American Access SAO-West FPR.    On July 18, 2016, the agency issued amendment 14, making several changes to the solicitation.  See generally RFP, amend. 14.  Of significance here, the agency amended the contract type to an indefinite-delivery requirements contract.  Id. at 002111, 002112.