Soft Tech Consulting, Inc.

B-416934 Jan 15, 2019 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Soft Tech Consulting, Inc., of Chantilly, Virginia, protests its elimination from the competition under request for quotations (RFQ) No.70SBUR18Q00000249, issued by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, for software development services. The protester argues that the agency unreasonably and disparately evaluated quotations. We sustain the protest. We sustain 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:  Soft Tech Consulting, Inc. File:  B-416934 Date:  January 15, 2019 John R. Prairie, Esq., and Cara L. Lasley, Esq., Wiley Rein LLP, for the protester. William A. Shook, Esq., The Law Offices of William A. Shook PLLC, for Dev Technology Group, Inc., the intervenor. Stephanie Quade, Esq., Department of Homeland Security, for the agency. Joshua R. Gillerman, Esq., and Tania Calhoun, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Protest challenging the agency’s evaluation of quotations is sustained where the agency’s evaluation documentation is inadequate to support the reasonableness of the agency’s disparate treatment of quotations. DECISION Soft Tech Consulting, Inc., of Chantilly, Virginia, protests its elimination from the competition under request for quotations (RFQ) No.70SBUR18Q00000249, issued by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, for software development services.  The protester argues that the agency unreasonably and disparately evaluated quotations. We sustain the protest. BACKGROUND The RFQ was issued on June 15, 2018, via the General Services Administration’s (GSA) e-Buy portal, under the procedures of Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) subpart 8.4, to small business vendors holding a GSA Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) contract under Schedule 70, special item number 132-51 (Information Technology Professional Services).  Agency Report (AR), Tab 13, Contracting Officer’s Statement (COS) at 2.  The RFQ contemplated the award of a task order for development, security, and operations (DevDecOps) services to support the agency’s information technology (IT) systems.  AR, Tab 3, Performance Work Statement (PWS), at 1.  The task order required vendors to propose teams of professionals from their FSS contracts to perform software development services, with a specific focus on data aggregation and consolidation services, to be utilized to create a single identity record to enhance the agency’s Alien Number validation process.  Id. Award was to be made on a best-value tradeoff basis, using a two-step evaluation process and considering the following factors:  relevant experience, staffing approach, technical demonstration, and price.  AR, Tab 2, RFQ at 31-34.  The agency was to assign an adjectival rating of good, satisfactory, marginal, or unsatisfactory under each non-price factor.  Id. at 35.  During step one, quotations would be evaluated under the relevant experience and staffing approach factors.  Id. at 34.  The agency would also assess vendors’ prices to determine if they were fair and reasonable.  Id.  Vendors whose submissions were found to be “most technically superior,” and who were determined to have quoted fair and reasonable prices, would be considered for step two of the evaluation.  Id.  For step two, the agency would evaluate the remaining quotations under the technical demonstration factor, ultimately performing a price/technical tradeoff between this factor and price.  Id. at 34-35. At issue here, under the staffing approach factor, vendors were required to complete a “[V]endor Team Composition Template” which the agency would evaluate to determine whether the proposed personnel were appropriate for the work contemplated by the solicitation.  RFQ at 33.  The solicitation explained that the evaluation of the vendors’ staffing would include an evaluation of the proposed labor categories, in order to ensure the quoted staffing mix provided the knowledge, experience, and level of support required for the task order.  Id.  To complete the template, vendors were required to propose one program management team, three DevSecOps teams, five optional DevSecOps teams, and one optional administrative team.  RFQ at 28.