Wellspring Worldwide, Inc.

B-417282.2,B-417282.3,B-417282.4 Dec 20, 2019 Jump To FULL REPORT VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Wellspring Worldwide, Inc., a small business of Chicago, Illinois, protests the issuance of a purchase order by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), National Institutes of Health (NIH), to Inteum Company, LLC, of Kirkland, Washington, under request for quotations (RFQ) No. NIAID-RFQ18-20180622, for an enterprise system solution to support the management of NIH-owned intellectual property. Wellspring challenges NIH's evaluation of the vendors' technical and price quotations, argues that the agency failed to conduct meaningful discussions, and contends that the best-value tradeoff and source selection decision was unreasonable. 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:  Wellspring Worldwide, Inc. File:  B-417282.2; B-417282.3; B-417282.4 Date:  December 20, 2019 David T. Ralston, Jr., Esq., Frank S. Murray, Esq., Julia Di Vito, Esq., and Micah T. Zomer, Esq., Foley & Lardner LLP, for the protester. Anthony E. Marrone, Esq., and Pamela Waldron, Esq., Department of Health and Human Services, for the agency. Heather Weiner, Esq., and Jennifer D. Westfall-McGrail, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST 1.  Protest challenging the agency’s evaluation of quotations is denied where the evaluation was reasonable and consistent with the terms of the solicitation. 2.  Protest that the agency engaged in misleading discussions with the protester by failing to advise during discussions that the protester’s quoted price was unreasonably high is denied where the agency did not find the protester’s price unreasonable, and was not otherwise obligated to raise this matter during discussions. 3.  Protest that the awardee’s quotation improperly took exception to the solicitation requirement to quote a fixed price is denied where the agency reasonably determined that the awardee’s assumptions were not exceptions, and where the language in question reflects the reservation of a right to request, rather than receive, a price adjustment. 4.  Agency’s selection of a lower-rated, lower-priced quotation for award is unobjectionable where the agency’s tradeoff decision was reasonable and adequately documented. DECISION Wellspring Worldwide, Inc., a small business of Chicago, Illinois, protests the issuance of a purchase order by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), National Institutes of Health (NIH), to Inteum Company, LLC, of Kirkland, Washington, under request for quotations (RFQ) No. NIAID-RFQ18-20180622, for an enterprise system solution to support the management of NIH-owned intellectual property.  Wellspring challenges NIH’s evaluation of the vendors’ technical and price quotations, argues that the agency failed to conduct meaningful discussions, and contends that the best-value tradeoff and source selection decision was unreasonable.  We deny the protest. BACKGROUND On July 5, 2018, the NIH issued the RFQ as a combined synopsis/solicitation, which was set aside for small businesses.  The solicitation sought an electronic system to manage intellectual property matters for HHS, including the patenting and licensing of government inventions and discoveries.  RFQ, Statement of Work (SOW) at 1.  The agency conducted the procurement in accordance with the commercial item procedures of Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) part 12 and simplified acquisition procedures of FAR part 13.  The RFQ contemplated the award of a fixed-price purchase order, for a base year and four 12‑month options.  RFQ at 2.  The RFQ provided that the purchase order would be issued to the vendor whose quotation was evaluated as providing the best value, based on a tradeoff between price and the following non-price factors, in descending order of importance:  technical, corporate experience, and past performance.  RFQ, Eval. Criteria, at 1-3.  The technical factor also consisted of two sub-factors:  functional requirements and customize software.  Id.