Computer World Services Corporation

B-416042 May 22, 2018 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Computer World Services Corp. (CWSC) of Washington, DC, protests the cancellation of request for proposals (RFP) No. 191NLE18R0001 issued by the Department of State (DOS), for biometric expertise services. The protester argues that the agency's decision to cancel the solicitation lacks a reasonable basis and was a pretext to avoid awarding the contract to CWSC. 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:  Computer World Services Corporation File:  B-416042 Date:   May 22, 2018 Lee Dougherty, Esq., and Katerine S. Saphier, Esq., Effectus PLLC, for the protester. Tudo N. Pham, Esq., and Morgan L. Cosby, Esq., Department of State, for the agency. Young S. Lee, Esq., and Peter H. Tran, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Protest that agency improperly cancelled the solicitation is denied where the agency reasonably determined that the solicitation’s statement of work no longer met its needs. DECISION Computer World Services Corp. (CWSC) of Washington, DC, protests the cancellation of request for proposals (RFP) No. 191NLE18R0001 issued by the Department of State (DOS), for biometric expertise services.  The protester argues that the agency’s decision to cancel the solicitation lacks a reasonable basis and was a pretext to avoid awarding the contract to CWSC. We deny the protest.  BACKGROUND On November 10, 2017, the Department of State issued the solicitation as a set-aside for historically underutilized business zone (HUBZone) small businesses.  Contracting Officer Statement (COS) at 1; Agency Report (AR), Tab 3, RFP, at 2.  The RFP contemplated the award of a fixed-price contract with a 1-year base period and two 1‑year options.  RFP at 21-22.  Proposals were to be evaluated based on the following factors:  (1) technical/past performance; (2) key personnel; and (3) price.  Id. at 23-24.  The evaluation factors were listed in descending order of importance, and non-price factors, when combined, were more important than price.  Id. at 23.  The solicitation sought to obtain biometric expertise services to guide the planning, documentation, development, testing, operations and maintenance of applications, reporting, and other advanced initiatives for a biometric data sharing program.[1]  Id. at 3. The solicitation also contemplated that the awardee would help the agency transition to a cloud based system for development and testing of biometric software modules.  Id.  Moreover, the solicitation was supposed to provide the agency with the ability to maintain pace with advanced technologies to include cloud services and mobile capabilities.  Id. DOS received seven proposals in response to the solicitation and evaluated the offers between November 30, 2017 and January 5, 2018.  COS at 1.  On February 8, 2018, after multiple discussions between the agency’s contracting personnel and program staff, DOS concluded that the solicitation, as written, did not fully reflect its needs.  Id.  The agency believed that it was necessary to cancel the solicitation for the following reasons:  (1) the RFP did not address requirements to accomplish basic cloud planning, hosting, migration and general support; (2) the RFP failed to include a requirement for code development within cloud infrastructure; (3) the quantity and type of personnel required by the solicitation were insufficient to accomplish the necessary work; and (4) multiple aspects of the existing solicitation were no longer required by the agency.  Id. at 1-2.  On February 8, 2018, the agency posted notification of its decision to cancel the solicitation on the Federal Business Opportunities (FedBizOpps) website.  Id.