Dexis Consulting Group

B-415483 Dec 26, 2017 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Dexis Consulting Group of Washington, D.C., protests the decision of the Department of the Interior (DOI) not to award it a contract for functional area 7 under request for proposals (RFP) No. D17PS00713, for performance management and evaluation services for the Department of State. The protester 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:  Dexis Consulting Group File:  B-415483 Date:  December 26, 2017 Mark G. Chalpin, Esq., Law Offices of Mark G. Chalpin, for the protester. Michelle E. Litteken, Esq., Pamela Mazza, Esq., Julia Di Vito, Esq., and Matthew Feinberg, Esq., Piliero Mazza PLLC, for Social Impact, the intervenor. Robert D. Banfield, Esq., Department of the Interior, for the agency. Frank Maguire, Esq., and Jennifer D. Westfall-McGrail, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Protest challenging technical evaluation of protester's proposal is denied where the record shows that the agency's evaluation was reasonable and consistent with the terms of the solicitation. DECISION Dexis Consulting Group of Washington, D.C., protests the decision of the Department of the Interior (DOI) not to award it a contract for functional area 7 under request for proposals (RFP) No. D17PS00713, for performance management and evaluation services for the Department of State.[1]  The protester challenges the agency's evaluation of its proposal.[2] We deny the protest. BACKGROUND The RFP contemplated the award of multiple indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contracts, with three to five awardees under each of seven functional areas (FA).  The FAs were as follows:  (FA1) Security; (FA2) Civilian Security, Rights and Stability; (FA3) Diplomacy, Media and Cultural Affairs Programs; (FA4) Environment, Science and Technology; (FA5) Economics, Business and Trade; (FA6) Management Platform; and (FA7) General/Crosscutting.  Id. at 3.  Offerors were required to submit a separate proposal for each FA for which they were competing.  The solicitation anticipated a period of performance of one year, with four 1-year options. Pertinent here, the RFP describes FA7, General/Crosscutting, as follows: This functional area covers general performance-related support that may be required by a bureau, such as for strategic planning, performance measurement development, business analysis, training and support services, among others.  It also covers subject matter evaluations that may cut across functional areas 1-6 but do not fall neatly into a single area.  For instance, an evaluation of a program that encompasses some elements of civilian security or business but truly focuses on gender equity may be determined to fit best into functional area seven. RFP at 17. The RFP provided for the evaluation of FA7 proposals based on price (for a sample task order) and the following five equally-weighted non-price factors:  management approach and technical understanding, personnel qualifications, organizational experience, past performance, and sample task order.  RFP, attach. 8, FA7 (revised) at 2.  The non-price factors, when combined, were significantly more important than price.  The solicitation advised that non-price evaluation factors would be assigned a rating of excellent, very good, satisfactory or unsatisfactory, and that, in order to be considered for award, a minimum rating of satisfactory had to be achieved on all non-price factors.  Id. The protester submitted a proposal for FA7, as well as proposals for FAs 1 and 3, by the August 29 closing date.  On September 26, the agency notified Dexis that it had not been awarded a contract under FA7.[3]  In a written debriefing provided on September 29, DOI advised the protester that, while its FA7 proposal had been rated as satisfactory under the personnel qualifications, organizational experience, and sample task order factors and as acceptable under the past performance factor, the proposal had been rated as unsatisfactory under the management approach and technical understanding factor, leading to an overall rating of unsatisfactory.  The rating of unsatisfactory was attributable to a finding of a deficiency, which provided in part as follows:  In the proposal Dexis states,"We understand that the goal of the Functional Area 7 IDIQ is to support State bureaus and offices with specific aspects of performance management and evaluation to strengthen the MfR [Managing for Results] framework.  Having been a prime holder of the TASPER IDIQ for the last five years, Dexis has a firm grasp of the wide range of task order[s] that are asked for by the State bureaus and off...