M3 Partners, LLC (Unknown)

B-416685.6 May 04, 2020 Jump To FULL REPORT VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights M3 Partners, LLC, of Greenville, South Carolina, protests the handling and evaluation of its unsolicited proposal by the Department of the Navy, Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR). M3 also asserts that the agency has improperly used the contents of M3's unsolicited proposal in a subsequent solicitation. We deny the protest. View Decision Decision Matter of:  M3 Partners, LLC File:  B-416685.6 Date:  May 4, 2020 Michael W. Middleton for the protester. Eric M. Carlson, Esq., and Theresa Francis, Esq., Department of the Navy, for the agency. Kenneth Kilgour, Esq., and Jennifer D. Westfall-McGrail, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST 1.Protest challenging agency’s evaluation and rejection of an unsolicited proposal is dismissed because GAO will not generally review a protest which would mandate that an agency accept an unsolicited proposal and procure from the firm on a sole-source basis. 2.Protest that the agency improperly used the contents of the protester’s unsolicited proposal is denied where the record does not support the protester’s contention that the agency appropriated its idea, or that its solution was innovative or unique. DECISION   M3 Partners, LLC, of Greenville, South Carolina, protests the handling and evaluation of its unsolicited proposal by the Department of the Navy, Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR).  M3 also asserts that the agency has improperly used the contents of M3’s unsolicited proposal in a subsequent solicitation. We deny the protest. BACKGROUND The protester’s unsolicited proposal at issue here concerns certain systems on the UC‑35C aircraft.  The systems at issue are similar to systems on the Navy’s UC-12W aircraft.  Both of these aircraft fall within the purview of the Navy’s Lead Class Desk Engineer for PMA 207 Commercial Derivative Aircraft programs (hereinafter, the lead program engineer).    In responding to M3’s allegations, the Navy’s lead program engineer explains that the Navy took delivery of six UC-12W aircraft in June 2010.  Aff. of Lead Engineer at ¶ 4.  These aircraft were “forward deploy[ed] to directly support the warfighter as a force multiplier.”  Shortly after delivery of the first UC-12W aircraft, the aircrew found that during operations the engine of the aircraft exceeded the maximum allowable Internal Turbine Temperature (ITT).  Despite efforts to develop new procedures to avoid the problem, the aircraft engine continued to exceed maximum allowable temperatures.  As a result, the agency was required to lease costly spare engines to keep aircraft operational.  In 2011-2012, the Navy developed an engine aural tone warning system for its UC-12W aircraft that would provide an audible tone to the aircrew once engine temperatures or torque were approaching maximum allowable limits.  Since installing the aural tone warning system in the UC-12W aircraft, the Navy has not needed spare engines to support operations due to incidents where the aircraft’s engine exceeded the maximum allowable ITT.  Id. In late 2019, the desk engineer for UC-35 aircraft approached the Navy’s lead program engineer “to help review data and develop a [statement of work (SOW)] for a UC-35C aural tone generator system that would address aircraft over-speeds.”  Id. ¶ 6.  The lead program engineer explains that these discussions focused on lessons learned from the UC-12W project.  Id.  It was during this time period that M3 first submitted--in March, 2018--and then resubmitted, an unsolicited proposal to the Navy to prevent the UC-35C engines from exceeding their operating limits.  See Protest, attach. A-A001, M3 Unsolicited Proposal.  The Navy’s rejection of that proposal has been the subject of two prior M3 Partners protests and two requests for reconsideration--all of which this Office has dismissed. The protester’s unsolicited proposal explains that “[f]rom [its] technical analysis [M3] believe[s] that the [engine trend monitors (ETMs)] can be reconfigured to alert the pilots preemptively that an engine is approaching its operating limit.”  Protest, attach.