North South Consulting Group, LLC

B-416849 Dec 27, 2018 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights North South Consulting Group, LLC (NSCG), a small business, of Elizabethtown, Kentucky, protests the award of a contract to Dynamic Systems Technology, Inc. (Dynamic), also a small business, of Fairfax, Virginia, under request for proposals (RFP) No. W9133L-18-R-0001, issued by the Department of the Army, National Guard Bureau, for support to the Army National Guard's child and youth school services (CYSS) program. NSCG argues that the Army misevaluated its proposal and made an unreasonable source selection decision. 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:  North South Consulting Group, LLC File:  B-416849 Date:  December 27, 2018 Aron C. Beezley, Esq., Patrick R. Quigley, Esq., Sarah S. Osborne, Esq., and Anna M. Lashley, Esq., Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP, for the protester. Janice Davis, Esq., Davis & Steele, for Dynamic Systems Technology, Inc., the intervenor. Major Felix S. Mason, Department of the Army, for the agency. Paula J. Haurilesko, Esq., and Peter H. Tran, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST 1.  Protest that the agency unreasonably assigned a weakness to the protester’s proposal is denied, where the record shows that the agency reasonably considered the information the protester provided in its proposal. 2.  Selection official reasonably characterized a weakness assigned to the protester’s proposal based on language in the protester’s proposal and the agency’s evaluation report. 3.  Protest that the agency’s selection decision was unreasonably is denied, where the selection official looked behind the adjectival ratings and qualitatively assessed proposals. DECISION North South Consulting Group, LLC (NSCG), a small business, of Elizabethtown, Kentucky, protests the award of a contract to Dynamic Systems Technology, Inc. (Dynamic), also a small business, of Fairfax, Virginia, under request for proposals (RFP) No. W9133L-18-R-0001, issued by the Department of the Army, National Guard Bureau, for support to the Army National Guard’s child and youth school services (CYSS) program.  NSCG argues that the Army misevaluated its proposal and made an unreasonable source selection decision. We deny the protest. BACKGROUND The RFP, issued on February 28, 2018, as a set-aside for small businesses, provided for the award of a fixed-price contract for child and youth program services at Army National Guard installations in 46 states, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the District of Columbia.  Agency Report (AR), Tab 3, RFP, Performance Work Statement (PWS), at 12; Tab 21, RFP amend. 1, at 2.  The RFP contemplated a period of performance of a base year and four option years.  RFP at 12.  The RFP stated that award would be made on a best-value basis, considering (in descending order of importance) technical approach, management approach, past performance, and price.  RFP amend 1, at 18. Under the technical approach factor, the RFP stated that the government would, in general terms, evaluate the offeror’s understanding of the complexity of the tasks and how well the methodology proposed will accomplish the requirements of the PWS.  Id.  Under the management approach factor, the RFP advised offerors, among other things, that the government would evaluate proposals to determine the offeror’s knowledge, capability, and experience regarding the RFP requirements.  Id. at 19.  As relevant here, the RFP required offerors to provide a breakout of retention statistics, by labor category, for contracts performed within the past three years.  Id. at 9.  For any attrition rates that exceeded 8 percent on any labor category under a single contract, offerors were to describe what actions were enacted to effectively address turnover.  Id. The Army National Guard received eight proposals in response to the solicitation, including proposals from NSCG and Dynamic.  AR, Tab 26, Source Selection Evaluation Board (SSEB) Report, at 4.  The SSEB evaluated proposals and identified significant strengths, strengths, weaknesses, deficiencies, and uncertainties in offerors’ proposals.  See id.