Fluor Federal Solutions, LLC

B-414223 Mar 29, 2017 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Fluor Federal Solutions, LLC, of Greenville, South Carolina, protests the terms of request for proposals (RFP) No. N69450-16-R-2113, issued by the Department of the Navy, Naval Facilities Engineering Command, for base operations support services at two locations in Florida: Pensacola Naval Regional Complex and Naval Hospital Pensacola. The protester argues that the scope of the solicitation is ambiguous, such that offerors cannot meaningfully price their proposals and proposals received cannot be meaningfully compared. Fluor contends that the remedy is for the agency to release Fluor's proprietary data provided to the Navy under the current contract and provide other background material. The protester also argues that if the requested information is not released, the agency should change the reimbursement structure from fixed-price to another compensation scheme reducing the financial risk to offerors. We deny the protest in part and dismiss the protest in part. We deny the protest in part and dismiss the protest in part. 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:  Fluor Federal Solutions, LLC File:  B-414223 Date:  March 29, 2017 Richard B. O’Keeffe, Jr., Esq., William A. Roberts, III, Esq., Samantha S. Lee, Esq.,  and Margaret E. Matavich, Esq., Wiley Rein LLP, for the protester. Robert Palmer, Esq., Department of the Navy, for the agency. Stephanie B. Magnell, Esq., and Amy B. Pereira, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST 1.  Protest challenging the terms of the solicitation as ambiguous is denied, where the solicitation provides offerors with sufficient information to compete intelligently and on a relatively equal basis, and where the information requested, much of which is proprietary to the protester, is not necessary for offerors to be able to draft their proposals. 2.  Protest arguing that the solicitation should resolve an alleged ambiguity by including the protester’s proprietary data, after the protester waives its rights in the data, is dismissed where the protester failed to establish that it is an interested party to challenge the lack of data in the absence of any competitive prejudice.   3.  Protest challenging the agency’s choice of a fixed-price contract is denied, where the agency is not prohibited from allocating substantial financial risk to the contractor. DECISION Fluor Federal Solutions, LLC, of Greenville, South Carolina, protests the terms of request for proposals (RFP) No. N69450-16-R-2113, issued by the Department of the Navy, Naval Facilities Engineering Command, for base operations support services at two locations in Florida:  Pensacola Naval Regional Complex[1] and Naval Hospital Pensacola.  The protester argues that the scope of the solicitation is ambiguous, such that offerors cannot meaningfully price their proposals and proposals received cannot be meaningfully compared.  Fluor contends that the remedy is for the agency to release Fluor’s proprietary data provided to the Navy under the current contract and provide other background material.  The protester also argues that if the requested information is not released, the agency should change the reimbursement structure from fixed-price to another compensation scheme reducing the financial risk to offerors. We deny the protest in part and dismiss the protest in part. BACKGROUND Fluor is the incumbent contractor on the current base operations services contract for the Pensacola Naval Regional Complex and the Naval Hospital Pensacola, which it has held since October 2007.  RFP at 2.  In this role, the protester records the services performed and “creates a daily flat file transmission [of this data] to load into the Government’s Maximo” database.  Supp. Comments, Feb. 15, 2017, at 1 (internal references and quotations removed).  Fluor maintains ownership rights in the data, and “[t]he flat file Fluor transmits is, as a whole, marked proprietary.”  Id.  Under Fluor’s contract, approximately 88 percent of the work is performed on a fixed-price basis and 12 percent on an indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity basis.  RFP at 3.  On August 19, 2016, the Navy released the RFP, anticipating the award of an indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity (ID/IQ) contract with a period of performance of 1 base year, seven 1-year options, and one 6-month option.