Black & Veatch Special Projects Corporation

B-417166 Mar 05, 2019 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Black & Veatch Special Projects Corporation (Black & Veatch), of Overland Park, Kansas, protests the issuance of a task order to Trigon Associates, LLC, a woman-owned small business of New Orleans, Louisiana, under solicitation No. 72044019R00002, issued by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), for architectural and engineering (A&E) services to design and manage environmental remediation of dioxin contamination at the Bien Hoa Airbase in Vietnam. The protester contends that the agency violated the fair opportunity procedures in the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) and its A&E indefinite-delivery indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract by issuing the task order to Trigon, and that Trigon is incapable of performing the task order. We dismiss the protest. We dismiss 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:  Black & Veatch Special Projects Corporation File:  B-417166 Date:  March 5, 2019 Timothy E. Heffernan, Esq., and Sarah K. Bloom, Esq., Watt Tieder Hoffar & Fitzgerald, LLP, for the protester. John B. Alumbaugh, Esq., United States Agency for International Development, for the agency. Charmaine A. Stevenson, Esq., and Laura Eyester, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST 1.  Protest that the agency violated the fair opportunity procedures in the Federal Acquisition Regulation and the protester’s indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract by issuing a task order to a woman-owned small business without competition is dismissed as untimely where the contract unambiguously permits the agency to make a direct task order award to any category of small or small disadvantaged business as an exception to the fair opportunity process. 2.  Protest challenging a woman-owned small business awardee’s capability to perform is dismissed where the protester, an other-than-small business, is ineligible for the task order awarded using a small business exception to the fair opportunity procedures set forth in the protester’s indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract, and therefore is not an interested party. DECISION Black & Veatch Special Projects Corporation (Black & Veatch), of Overland Park, Kansas, protests the issuance of a task order to Trigon Associates, LLC, a woman-owned small business of New Orleans, Louisiana, under solicitation No. 72044019R00002, issued by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), for architectural and engineering (A&E) services to design and manage environmental remediation of dioxin contamination at the Bien Hoa Airbase in Vietnam.  The protester contends that the agency violated the fair opportunity procedures in the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) and its A&E indefinite-delivery indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract by issuing the task order to Trigon, and that Trigon is incapable of performing the task order. We dismiss the protest.  BACKGROUND On July 28, 2015, USAID issued a solicitation to award multiple contracts for global A&E services.  Request for Dismissal, Exh. 3, IDIQ Solicitation, at 3.  On September 29, the agency awarded a total of nine IDIQ contracts, six to large businesses, including the protester, and three to small businesses, including Trigon.  Request for Dismissal at 3. As relevant to the protest, the IDIQ solicitation and awarded contracts require that the task order contracting officer provide each contractor with a fair opportunity to be considered for each task order exceeding $3,500, unless an exception applies.  Request for Dismissal, Exh. 3, IDIQ Solicitation, at 40; Exh. 6, Trigon IDIQ Contract, at 46.  In addition to the exceptions provided in FAR § 16.505(b)(2), the IDIQ solicitation and the protester’s IDIQ contract contain the following exception to the fair opportunity process:  (6) Small Business Reserves and Small Business Set-Asides.  Pursuant to [USAID Automated Directive System (ADS) Chapter] 302, Small Business exception in Section 534(f) of P.L. 107-115, for [task orders/delivery orders] only:  Provides USAID with an exception to the fair opportunity process in FAR 16.505 to directly place task orders with any category of small or small disadvantaged business. Small Business Reserve  All task orders issued under this IDIQ [contract] greater than $3,500 but less than or equal to $2,000,000 must be competed first with any category of small or small disadvantaged business contract holders.  All contractors must be given a fair opportunity to be considered for Task Orders over $2,000,000 unless the [task order contracting officer] determines that one of the above statutory exceptions applies.  Request for Dismissal, Exh.