Veteran National Transportation, LLC

B-415011 Oct 31, 2017 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Veteran National Transportation, LLC, (VNT) of Fulshear, Texas, protests the Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA) award of a contract to Owl, Inc., of St. Johns, Florida, under request for proposals (RFP) No. VA258-17-R-0101, for ambulette transportation services. VNT challenges the agency's evaluation of its proposal. 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:  Veteran National Transportation, LLC File:  B-415011 Date:  October 31, 2017 Daniel C. McAuliffe, Esq., Whitcomb, Selinsky, McAuliffe, PC, for the protester. Thomas L. Walker, Esq., Wimberly, Lawson, Steckel, Schneider & Stine, PC, for Owl, Inc., the intervenor. Daniel McFeely, Esq., Department of Veterans Affairs, for the agency. Peter D. Verchinski, Esq., and Amy B. Pereira, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Protest challenging the agency’s past performance evaluation is denied where the evaluations and source selection decision were reasonable and consistent with the terms of the solicitation.  DECISION Veteran National Transportation, LLC, (VNT) of Fulshear, Texas, protests the Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) award of a contract to Owl, Inc., of St. Johns, Florida, under request for proposals (RFP) No. VA258-17-R-0101, for ambulette transportation services.  VNT challenges the agency’s evaluation of its proposal.  We deny the protest. BACKGROUND The RFP, issued on March 23, 2017, provided for the award of a fixed-price requirements contract for ambulette transportation services (wheelchair, stretcher, and ambulatory) in the Phoenix, Arizona metropolitan area for an approximately 3-month base period and five option periods, four of which are for one year and the fifth period is for approximately 7 months.  RFP at 26, 30-81.[1]  Under the RFP, offerors could compete for “workload #1,” which covered wheelchair and stretcher transportation services, or compete for “workload #2,” which covered ambulatory transportation services, or offerors could compete for both workloads.  RFP, amend. 1, at 557.  The acquisition, conducted under Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 12, Acquisition of Commercial Items, was set aside for small businesses using a tiered evaluation approach.[2]  RFP, amend. 1, at 556.  Award was to be made on a best-value tradeoff basis, considering past performance and price.  RFP at 155.  The past performance evaluation factor was composed of six subfactors (of equal importance):  management effectiveness; quality of service and workmanship; timeliness/adherence to schedules; quality control; customer satisfaction; and compliance with security, labor and safety regulations.  RFP at 156-157.  The RFP provided that past performance was significantly more important than price.  Id. at 155.  With regard to past performance, the RFP stated that the contracting officer would seek relevant performance information from the references provided by the offeror and data independently obtained from other government and commercial sources.  RFP at 157.  The agency would use this information to assess the offeror’s ability to perform the effort described in the solicitation.  Id.  The agency’s assessment would result in an overall past performance rating of exceptional/high confidence, very good/significant confidence, satisfactory/confidence, neutral/unknown confidence, marginal/little confidence, or unsatisfactory/no confidence.[3]  Id.