22nd Century Technologies, Inc.

B-416669.5,B-416669.6 Aug 05, 2019 Jump To FULL REPORT VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights 22nd Century Technologies, Inc., of McLean, Virginia, protests the issuance of a task order to LinTech Global, Inc., of Farmington Hills, Michigan, under request for task order proposals (TOPR) No. W91QF4-18-R-0005, by the Department of the Army, for information technology (IT) and support services. The protester challenges various aspects of the agency's evaluation of the technical proposals and the selection decision. 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:  22nd Century Technologies, Inc. File:  B-416669.5; B-416669.6 Date:  August 5, 2019 Daniel J. Strouse, Esq., David S. Cohen, Esq., Laurel A. Hockey, Esq., and John J. O’Brien, Esq., Cordatis LLP, for the protester. Michelle Kantor, Esq., and William J. Beckley, Esq., McDonald Hopkins LLC, for LinTech Global, Inc., the intervenor. Scott N. Flesch, Esq., Major Adam Kama, Harry M. Parent, Esq., and Lieutenant Colonel Andrew J. Smith, Department of the Army, for the agency. Young H. Cho, Esq., and Peter H. Tran, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST 1.  Protest alleging that the agency unreasonably failed to assign multiple strengths to protester’s proposal is denied where protester fails to demonstrate that the agency’s evaluation was unreasonable. 2.  Protest challenging the evaluation of proposals is denied where the awardee’s superior ratings stemmed from differences in the proposals and not from disparate treatment. DECISION 22nd Century Technologies, Inc., of McLean, Virginia, protests the issuance of a task order to LinTech Global, Inc., of Farmington Hills, Michigan, under request for task order proposals (TOPR) No. W91QF4-18-R-0005, by the Department of the Army, for information technology (IT) and support services.  The protester challenges various aspects of the agency’s evaluation of the technical proposals and the selection decision. We deny the protest. BACKGROUND The TOPR was issued on May 18, 2018, pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) subpart 16.5, via the General Services Administration’s (GSA) e‑Buy system, to holders of GSA’s 8(a) Streamlined Technology Acquisition Resources for Services II (STARS II) governmentwide acquisition contract, which is a multiple-award, indefinite‑delivery, indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract established to provide various IT services and service-based solutions.  Agency Report (AR), Tab 3, TOPR at 1; Contracting Officer’s Statement (COS) at 1.  The solicitation contemplated award of a single fixed-price task order with one 12-month base and two 12-month option periods, to provide a full range of IT and support services to systems (hardware and software), infrastructure, maintenance and operation of the academic network for the entire Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center campus.[1]  TOPR at 9, 23; AR, Tab 4, TOPR, attach. 1, PWS, at 1-3.  Award was to be made on a best-value tradeoff basis considering the following evaluation factors:  technical response, management and staffing plan, past performance, organizational conflict of interest (OCI) mitigation plan, and price.  TOPR at 27.  The TOPR advised that the technical response and management and staffing factors were of equal importance, and when combined, were significantly more important than the past performance and OCI mitigation plan factors, which were of equal importance.  When combined, the non-price factors were significantly more important than price.  Id. The agency received four proposals by the June 25, 2018 closing date, including those from 22nd Century and LinTech.[2]  COS at 1.  The agency conducted discussions with 22nd Century and LinTech and requested revised proposals from the two offerors.[3]  Id. at 2.  On July 30, 22nd Century was notified that award had been made to LinTech.  Id.  On August 9, 22nd Century filed its first protest with our Office, which was docketed as B-416669.  Id.  On September 5, the agency advised that in response to the protest, it would take corrective action by reevaluating proposals, opening discussions as necessary, and making a new award decision.  Accordingly, we dismissed 22nd Century’s protest as academic.  22nd Century Techs., Inc., B-416669, Sept. 10, 2018 (unpublished decision).