Government Scientific Source, Inc.

B-416777 Oct 18, 2018 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Government Scientific Source, Inc. (GSSI), of Reston, Virginia, a small business, protests the award of a contract to Kanawha Scales & Systems, Inc., of Poca, West Virginia, under request for quotations (RFQ) No. 36C10G18Q0157, issued by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for electronic analytical balances. GSSI argues that the VA unreasonably rejected the firm's quotation and improperly awarded the contract to Kanawha at a higher price. We deny the protest. We deny the protest. View Decision Decision Matter of:  Government Scientific Source, Inc. File:  B-416777 Date:  October 18, 2018 Gretchen Pfaffe, for the protester. Jo Spence, Esq., Department of Veterans Affairs, for the agency. Paul N. Wengert, Esq., and Tania Calhoun, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Protest that agency misevaluated protester's quotation as unacceptable under brand name-or-equal specification is denied where protester offered equal products but did not show that the products met one of the nine salient characteristics that were listed in the solicitation as minimum requirements.   DECISION Government Scientific Source, Inc. (GSSI), of Reston, Virginia, a small business, protests the award of a contract to Kanawha Scales & Systems, Inc., of Poca, West Virginia, under request for quotations (RFQ) No. 36C10G18Q0157, issued by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for electronic analytical balances.  GSSI argues that the VA unreasonably rejected the firm's quotation and improperly awarded the contract to Kanawha at a higher price. We deny the protest.  BACKGROUND The RFQ, issued on April 30, 2018, requested commercial item quotations to provide analytical balances to VA facilities under a nationwide service level agreement contract for ordering periods of a base year and 2 option years.  The RFQ identified nine models of balances under a brand name-or-equal specification, and incorporated Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) provision 52.211-6.  RFQ attach. B, Product Description, at 2 & attach. E, Solicitation Provisions, at 5.  The RFQ identified nine specific models of Mettler Toledo brand balances, corresponding to nine separate contract line item numbers (CLIN), and then listed nine salient characteristics--each of which was labeled as being applicable to all nine balance models.  Id. at 3.  The salient characteristics were a touchscreen display, "various models" having "capacities up to a minimum of 220 grams," a means to prevent air currents from affecting results, a resolution of 0.1 mg or better, accuracy at a combined maximum error of "2 divisions," a check-weighing function, a "[s]tatus light to indicate ready, warnings[,] and errors," a "[r]emovable pan for cleaning to reduce risk of contamination," and automated calibration technology.  Id.  For each salient characteristic, the RFQ specified that products would be assessed by "literature review."  Id.  For the purposes of price evaluation, the RFQ listed an estimated quantity of 26 balances of each of the nine models per year.  RFQ attach. A, Pricing Spreadsheet, at 1.   The RFQ indicated that a single requirements contract would be awarded to the firm whose quotation provided the best value to the agency under three factors, in descending order of importance:  technical, past performance, and price.  RFQ attach. E, Solicitation Provisions, at 10-11.  The technical evaluation would use the vendor's descriptive literature to evaluate whether the quoted products were technically acceptable, and to assess the degree and extent to which the RFQ requirements were satisfied.  Id. at 11.  The RFQ advised vendors that the quotations would be thoroughly evaluated to determine whether "all of the minimum salient characteristics" had been met, and that those that did not do so would be rated unacceptable.  Id. The VA received quotations from four firms, including GSSI and Kanawha.  GSSI's quotation provided descriptive literature and data sheets for both its "GT-Series" balances and its "GX-Series" balances, past performance information, and a pricing schedule for a specific GT- or GX-Series balance, corresponding to each of the nine CLINs, at an evaluated price of $2.29 million for all 3 years.  Protest attach, Quotation vol. III (GSSI Price Quotation), at 1-2.