Posterity Arora JV, LLC (W81K04-17-R-0004)

B-415760.5 Nov 02, 2020 Jump To FULL REPORT VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Posterity Arora JV, LLC (Posterity), of Rockville, Maryland, protests the award of a contract to WiseStaff, LLC, of Houston, Texas, under request for proposals (RFP) No. W81K04-17-R-0004, issued by the Department of the Army, for licensed vocational nurses (LVNs) and certified nursing assistants (CNAs) for the San Antonio Military Health System. Posterity protests that the agency's evaluation was unreasonable and improperly converted a best-value tradeoff procurement into a lowest-price, technically acceptable (LPTA) competition; applied an unstated evaluation criterion; and deviated from the solicitation terms. 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:  Posterity Arora JV, LLC File:  B-415760.5 Date:  November 2, 2020 Matthew T. Schoonover, Esq., Matthew P. Moriarty, Esq., John M. Mattox II, Esq., and Ian P. Patterson, Esq., Schoonover and Moriarty, LLC, for the protester. Timothy F. Valley, Esq., Piliero Mazza PLLC, for the intervenor. Andrew J. Smith, Esq., Dana J. Chase, Esq., Nicholas Lucchetti, Department of the Army, for the agency. John Sorrenti, Esq., and Christina Sklarew, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST 1.  Protest alleging that agency’s evaluation approach converted a best-value tradeoff procurement into a lowest-price, technically acceptable competition is denied where the record shows that the agency’s evaluation was consistent with the solicitation, meaningfully considered the relative merits of the proposals, and resulted in a reasonable best-value tradeoff. 2.  Protest alleging that agency’s evaluation of proposals applied an unstated evaluation criterion and deviated from the terms of the solicitation is denied where the record shows that the agency’s evaluation was reasonable and consistent with the terms of the solicitation DECISION   Posterity Arora JV, LLC (Posterity), of Rockville, Maryland, protests the award of a contract to WiseStaff, LLC, of Houston, Texas, under request for proposals (RFP) No. W81K04-17-R-0004, issued by the Department of the Army, for licensed vocational nurses (LVNs) and certified nursing assistants (CNAs) for the San Antonio Military Health System.  Posterity protests that the agency’s evaluation was unreasonable and improperly converted a best-value tradeoff procurement into a lowest-price, technically acceptable (LPTA) competition; applied an unstated evaluation criterion; and deviated from the solicitation terms. We deny the protest. BACKGROUND The San Antonio Military Health System is comprised of the San Antonio Military Medical Center and outlying clinics in the San Antonio area.  Agency Report (AR), Tab 11, RFP at 215.[1]  The agency issued this RFP as a set-aside for service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses, seeking proposals to provide LVN and CNA nursing services for the San Antonio Military Health System.  Id.  The RFP provided for award of a single indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract on a best-value tradeoff basis considering the following factors:  technical quality, performance risk (past and present performance), and price.  AR, Tab 11, RFP at 209-213.  The technical quality factor had three subfactors:  quality control plan, management capabilities, and recruitment and retention.  Id. at 209-210.  The technical quality factor was equal in importance to the performance risk factor, and the technical quality subfactors were all equally important.  Id. at 208.  When combined, the technical quality and performance risk factors were significantly more important than the price factor.  Id. As relevant to this protest, under the performance risk factor, offerors were to provide documentation that illustrated their performance on past or current contracts.  Id. at 197.  In particular, the RFP instructed offerors to provide no more than three “performance assessments on their current or past [United States government] or commercial contracts for a single task order, multiple contracts or a combination of task orders to meet the definition of relevancy.”  RFP at 197.  For each referenced contract, offerors had to provide a statement of relevancy, request the completion of performance risk assessment questionnaires (PRAQs) by a person who had knowledge of the offeror’s performance on the prior contract, and provide a list of the people to whom the PRAQs were provided.  Id. at 197-198.  The RFP explained that offerors could submit past and present performance information regarding the offeror’s predecessor companies, key personnel with relevant experience, or major subcontractors.  Id.