Excellus Solutions, Inc.

B-417298.3,B-417298.4 Sep 26, 2019 Jump To FULL REPORT VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Excellus Solutions, Inc., of McLean, Virginia, protests the issuance of a task order to Datum Software, Inc., of Johns Creek, Georgia, under fair opportunity proposal request (FOPR) No. FA8770-18-R-0003, issued by the Department of the Air Force, for subject matter expert (SME) support services for the Air Force life cycle management center logistics readiness branch and logistics maintenance branch systems and program management offices. The protester challenges the agency's assessment of deficiencies rendering its proposal unacceptable under the technical factor. 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:  Excellus Solutions, Inc. File:  B-417298.3; B-417298.4 Date:  September 26, 2019 Daniel J. Strouse, Esq., and John J. O’Brien, Esq., Cordatis Law LLP, for the protester. Colonel Patricia S. Wiegman-Lenz, C. Taylor Smith, Esq., Christopher M. Judge, Esq., and Kristina M. Burris, Esq.,  Department of the Air Force; and John W. Klein, Esq., and Sam Q. Le, Esq., United States Small Business Administration, for the agencies. Young H. Cho, Esq., and Peter H. Tran, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Protest challenging agency’s determination that protester’s proposal was technically unacceptable under a task order competition is denied where the record shows that the agency reasonably evaluated protester’s technical proposal. DECISION Excellus Solutions, Inc., of McLean, Virginia, protests the issuance of a task order to Datum Software, Inc., of Johns Creek, Georgia, under fair opportunity proposal request (FOPR) No. FA8770-18-R-0003, issued by the Department of the Air Force, for subject matter expert (SME) support services for the Air Force life cycle management center logistics readiness branch and logistics maintenance branch systems and program management offices.  The protester challenges the agency’s assessment of deficiencies rendering its proposal unacceptable under the technical factor. We deny the protest.  BACKGROUND The FOPR was issued on June 5, 2018, under Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) subpart 16.5, to holders of the agency’s Network-Centric Solutions-2 (NETCENTS-2) application services small business indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract.[1]  Agency Report (AR), Tab 5, FOPR at 1; Contracting Officer’s Statement (COS) at 2.  The solicitation contemplated award of a single fixed-price task order with one 1-year base and four 1-year option periods, to provide the agency with unique, in‑depth functional and technical knowledge on application and system operations.[2]  FOPR at 5, 34.  The task order requires contractor personnel to possess specific levels of expertise in certain key system areas or disciplines and be knowledgeable about the domain of each represented system.  Id. at 34.  Award was to be made on a best-value tradeoff basis considering two factors:  technical and price.  Id. at 8.  The technical factor included two equally weighted subfactors that would each be evaluated against defined measures of merit and assigned adjectival ratings.[3]  Id. The agency received four proposals by the initial FOPR closing date, including from Excellus and Datum.[4]  COS at 3.  The agency evaluated the proposals, conducted discussions, obtained and evaluated final proposal revisions (FPR), and awarded the task order to Datum.[5]  Id. at 4-6.  Excellus filed its first protest with our Office challenging the agency’s award to Datum; the protest was docketed as B‑417298.  We dismissed the protest as academic based on the agency’s notice of intent to take corrective action that included amending the solicitation and conducting “interchanges” with the offerors.  Excellus Solutions, Inc., B‑417298, Feb. 27, 2019 (unpublished decision).  After the agency amended the solicitation and issued interchange notices, Excellus filed its second protest with our Office, docketed as B‑417298.2.  This protest also was dismissed as academic based on the agency’s intent to amend the solicitation to clarify or remove the solicitation language challenged by the protester.  Excellus Solutions, Inc., B-417298.2, Apr. 1, 2019 (unpublished decision). After our Office dismissed Excellus’ second protest, the agency amended the solicitation on April 1, 2019.  COS at 4; AR, Tab 7, Receipt of Amend.