Equifax Information Services, LLC

B-414907 Oct 16, 2017 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Equifax Information Services, LLC (Equifax), of Lanham, Maryland, the incumbent contractor, protests the establishment of a blanket purchase agreement (BPA) with Experian Information Solutions (Experian), of Costa Mesa, California, under request for quotations (RFQ) No. TIRNO-17-Q-00047 issued by the Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service (IRS), for taxpayer identity and verification services. Equifax challenges the agency's evaluation of the awardee's quotation. 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:  Equifax Information Services, LLC File:  B-414907 Date:  October 16, 2017 Megan M. Jeschke, Esq., and Elizabeth N. Jochum, Esq., Holland & Knight LLP, for the protester. Amy L. O'Sullivan, Esq., James G. Peyster, Esq., Monica R. Sterling, Esq., and Robert A. Burton, Esq., Crowell & Moring LLP, for the intervenor. Holly H. Styles, Esq., and Jonathan D. Tepper, Esq., Internal Revenue Service, for the agency. Lois Hanshaw, Esq., and Christina Sklarew, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Protest challenging an agency’s evaluation of an awardee’s quotation is denied where the awardee’s quotation met the solicitation’s technical requirements and the agency’s evaluation was reasonable and consistent with the stated evaluation criteria. DECISION Equifax Information Services, LLC (Equifax), of Lanham, Maryland, the incumbent contractor, protests the establishment of a blanket purchase agreement (BPA) with Experian Information Solutions (Experian), of Costa Mesa, California, under request for quotations (RFQ) No. TIRNO-17-Q-00047 issued by the Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service (IRS), for taxpayer identity and verification services.  Equifax challenges the agency’s evaluation of the awardee’s quotation. We deny the protest. BACKGROUND On June 13, 2017, the IRS issued the RFQ under the federal supply schedule (FSS) procedures of Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) subpart 8.4 to three vendors[1] holding the financial and business solutions schedule contract, special item number 520-16.[2]  The RFQ contemplated the issuance of a fixed-price task order with a 12-month period of performance.  Agency Report (AR), Tab D.3a, RFQ at 1, 6.  Award was to be made on a lowest-price, technically acceptable basis.  Id. at 1.  The RFP’s statement of work (SOW) explained that with this BPA, the IRS would be able to use the proprietary databases of the successful vendor to verify the identity of a taxpayer, thereby reducing or preventing tax refund fraud caused by identify theft.  Id. at 4. The SOW defined the scope and objectives of the solicitation, and stated that the IRS was seeking data products and capabilities, such as: knowledge based authentication (KBA); out of wallet (OOW) information;[3] telephone transactions; and financial transactions/account verification services (financial transaction services).  RFQ at 4.  As relevant here, financial transaction services were defined as transactions that use checking, savings, loans, credit cards, and utility account data to verify a person’s identity.  Id. at 4.  The SOW also listed, among the “scope and objectives,” the following five bullet points: Provision of individual based data authentication that can be used in real time to verify a caller’s identity, Question support based on Out of Wallet (OOW) information, Phone verification to include number validation with the identity, Financial data validation (e.g., checking, savings, loans, credit cards, and utility account data), Question support based on known Knowledge Based Authentication (KBA) Id.