Island Peer Review Organization, Inc- dba IPRO (75FCMC18R0016)

B-417297.2 Sep 12, 2025 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Island Peer Review Organization, Inc., doing business as IPRO, of Lake Success, New York, protests the issuance of a task order to Superior Health Quality Alliance (Superior Health), of Madison, Wisconsin, under the instant task order request for proposals (TORP) issued by the Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), for healthcare quality improvement services. The protester challenges the agency's evaluation of proposals under the eligibility assessment and the technical factor, as well as the best-value tradeoff decision. 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 version has been approved for public release without redactions.. Decision Matter of: Island Peer Review Organization, Inc., d/b/a IPRO File: B-417297.2 Date: September 12, 2025 Kenneth B. Weckstein, Esq., and Shlomo D. Katz, Esq., Brown Rudnick LLP, for the protester. Daniel J. Strouse, Esq., Pablo Nichols, Esq., and Samuel Van Kopp, Esq., Cordatis LLP, for Superior Health Quality Alliance, the intervenor. Jon J. Gottschalk, Esq., and William Shim, Esq., Department of Health and Human Services, for the agency. Raymond Richards, Esq., and John Sorrenti, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST 1. Protest challenging the evaluation of the awardee’s proposal under an eligibility assessment is sustained where the contemporaneous record is insufficiently documented to allow our Office to review the agency’s decision for reasonableness, and where the agency’s post‑protest statements are not consistent with the record and indicate that aspects of the evaluation were not documented. 2. Protest challenging the agency’s technical evaluation of proposals and best‑value tradeoff decision is denied where the protester fails to demonstrate that the agency’s evaluation and decision were unreasonable. DECISION Island Peer Review Organization, Inc., doing business as IPRO, of Lake Success, New York, protests the issuance of a task order to Superior Health Quality Alliance (Superior Health), of Madison, Wisconsin, under the instant task order request for proposals (TORP)[1] issued by the Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), for healthcare quality improvement services. The protester challenges the agency’s evaluation of proposals under the eligibility assessment and the technical factor, as well as the best‑value tradeoff decision. We sustain the protest. Background CMS issued the TORP on July 25, 2024, under CMS’s Network of Quality Improvement and Innovation Contractors (NQIIC) indefinite‑delivery, indefinite‑quantity (IDIQ) contract, seeking contractors to act as quality improvement organizations (QIOs) for CMS’s quality improvement network (QIN) QIO program. COS at 1; Agency Report (AR), Tab 2.15, Statement of Work (SOW) at 4.[2] In short, the QIN‑QIO program assists healthcare providers and practitioners with high‑quality, hands‑on quality improvement assistance. AR, Tab 2.15, SOW at 4; see also Maximus Fed. Servs., B‑410359, Dec. 17, 2014, 2015 CPD ¶ 11 at 2 (discussion of QIN‑QIOs). The instant matter involves CMS’s QIN‑QIO program for the northeast region (Region 1), which covers Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Jersey, New York, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. Protest at 1; Agency Report (AR), Tab 2.34, Amended 13th Statement of Work (SOW) at 19. The TORP contemplated the issuance of a cost‑plus‑fixed‑fee task order with one 60‑month period of performance. AR, Tab 2.18, Terms and Conditions at 2‑3. CMS would issue the task order in accordance with the fair opportunity procedures of Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) subpart 16.5. AR, Tab 2.35, Instructions & Evaluation at 1.[3] As an initial requirement, offerors had to satisfy a QIO eligibility assessment by meeting “prequalification criteria” as established in the solicitation and relevant law and regulation. Id. at 3‑4 (referencing section 1153 of the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 1320c‑2, and 42 C.F.R. § 475). The QIO eligibility assessment would be rated on an acceptable/unacceptable basis. To earn a rating of acceptable, an offeror was required to “adequately demonstrate that they meet the eligibility requirements and definition of a QIO.” Id. at 3‑4. Relevant to the protest, prime contractors were responsible for meeting the QIO eligibility assessment “on the merits and structure of their own organization” and the TORP instructed offerors that the response specific to the eligibility assessment “should only include relevant experience and other information of the prime contractor, not subcontractors.” Id. at 3.