Accenture Federal Services, LLC

B-417111.5,B-417111.6,B-417111.7,B-417111.8,B-417111.9,B-417111.10 Sep 04, 2019 Jump To FULL REPORT VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Accenture Federal Services LLC, of Arlington, Virginia; Cognosante MVH, LLC, of Falls Church, Virginia; and SRA International, Inc., of Chantilly, Virginia, protest the issuance of a task order to Booz Allen Hamilton (BAH), of Red Bank, New Jersey, by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), under solicitation No. T4NG-0369/TAC-18-50649, which was issued to allow the VA to obtain information technology (IT) operations and services and remediation support services. All protesters contend that the VA failed to credit their proposals for various strengths under the technical evaluation. Accenture asserts that the VA disparately evaluated technical proposals, such that its proposal was not assigned a strength for an aspect for which BAH's proposal received a strength, while Cognosante alleges that the agency evaluated proposals unequally and failed to credit it for meritorious aspects of its proposal in the same manner as BAH. Accenture and Cognosante contend that the VA failed to consider the qualitative differences in offerors' past performance histories. All protesters argue that the VA performed a flawed best-value tradeoff that did not justify award to BAH at a significant price premium. 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:  Accenture Federal Services LLC; Cognosante MVH, LLC; SRA International, Inc. File:  B-417111.5; B-417111.6; B-417111.7; B-417111.8; B-417111.9; B-417111.10 Date:  September 4, 2019 James Andrew Jackson, Esq., Cherie J. Owen, Esq., Alexander M. Yabroff, Esq., Sara Lynn Rafferty, Esq., and Ryan P. McGovern, Esq., Jones Day, for Accenture Federal Services LLC; Alexander B. Ginsberg, Esq., Meghan D. Doherty, Esq., Kevin Massoudi, Esq., and Toghrul M. Shukurlu, Esq., Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP, for Cognosante MVH, LLC; and Michael F. Mason, Esq., Stacy M. Hadeka, Esq., Katherine L. Morga, Esq., Adilene Rosales, Esq., Hogan Lovells US LLP, for SRA International, Inc., the protesters. Mark D. Colley, Esq., Kristen E. Ittig, Esq., Stuart W. Turner, Esq., Sonia Tabriz, Esq., and Michael E. Samuels, Esq., Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP, for Booz Allen Hamilton, Inc., the intervenor.Frank V. DiNicola, Esq., Desiree A. DiCorcia, Esq., and Tara Nash, Esq., Department of Veterans Affairs, for the agency. Stephanie B. Magnell, Esq., and Amy B. Pereira, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST 1.  Protests challenging the agency’s evaluation under the technical factor are denied, where the agency’s evaluation was not unreasonable.    2.  Protests alleging that the agency engaged in disparate treatment and evaluated proposals unequally by failing to award strengths to offerors equally for similar or similarly meritorious aspects of their proposals are denied, where there were substantive differences between the proposals that the agency reasonably determined did not warrant assigning the same strength. 3.  Protest challenging the agency’s past performance evaluation is denied, where the agency’s evaluation was consistent with the solicitation. 4.  Protests that the agency unreasonably selected the highest-priced, highest-rated proposal are denied, where the agency considered the underlying benefits of the awardee’s proposal as compared to those of other proposals. DECISION Accenture Federal Services LLC, of Arlington, Virginia; Cognosante MVH, LLC, of Falls Church, Virginia; and SRA International, Inc., of Chantilly, Virginia, protest the issuance of a task order to Booz Allen Hamilton (BAH), of Red Bank, New Jersey, by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), under solicitation No.