Burchick Construction Company, Inc. (36C10F18R0651)

B-417310.3 Jan 27, 2020 Jump To FULL REPORT VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Burchick Construction Company, Inc., a small business of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, protests the award of a contract to C&C Contractors, LLC, a service-disabled veteran-owned small business of Notasulga, Alabama, by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) under request for proposals (RFP) No. 36C10F18R0651, for construction services to expand the National Cemetery of the Alleghenies. The protester challenges the agency's evaluation of its proposal and award decision. 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:  Burchick Construction Company, Inc. File:  B-417310.3 Date:  January 27, 2020 Nancy M. Camardo, Esq., Camardo Law Firm, PC, for the protester. Tracy Reibling, C&C Contractors, LLC, for the intervenor. Ashley Lawson Williams, Esq., Department of Veterans Affairs, for the agency. Andrew J. Smith, Esq., and Amy B. Pereira, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST   Protest challenging the agency's past performance and technical evaluation of its proposal is denied where the agency’s evaluation was reasonable and consistent with the terms of the solicitation. DECISION   Burchick Construction Company, Inc., a small business of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, protests the award of a contract to C&C Contractors, LLC, a service-disabled veteran-owned small business of Notasulga, Alabama, by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) under request for proposals (RFP) No. 36C10F18R0651, for construction services to expand the National Cemetery of the Alleghenies.  The protester challenges the agency’s evaluation of its proposal and award decision.  We deny the protest.  BACKGROUND On August 31, 2018, the VA issued the RFP as a small business set-aside conducted pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) part 15.  Agency Report (AR), Tab 4, RFP, at 1.  The RFP sought proposals to provide construction services to expand the National Cemetery of the Alleghenies located in Bridgeville, Pennsylvania to provide an additional 10 years of continued burial service.  Id. at 1, 9.  The RFP contemplated the award of a fixed-price construction contract on a best-value tradeoff basis considering price and the following equally weighted factors:  past performance, relevant experience, technical approach, construction/project management, and veteran involvement.  Id. at 10-11.  As relevant here, the relevant experience factor was comprised of two equally weighted subfactors:  relevant team experience and key personnel.  Id.  The construction/project management factor contained the following five subfactors, of equal importance:  project organizational chart and narrative; capacity to perform the work; quality control plan; safety plan; and schedule.  Id.  The non-price factors and subfactors, when combined, were significantly more important than price.  Id. at 11. The agency received proposals from Burchick and C&C by the October 25 due date. AR, Tab 1, Contracting Officer’s Statement (COS) at 2; Tab 5, RFP amend. 0002, at 1.  The agency evaluated proposals, and on January 30, 2019, awarded the contract to C&C in the amount of $24,201,000.  Id. at 3.  On February 12, Burchick filed a protest with our Office challenging the agency’s evaluation of its proposal and the best-value tradeoff decision.  The agency notified our Office of its intent to take corrective action by reevaluating proposals and making a new award decision.  As a result of the agency’s decision to take corrective action, we dismissed the protest as academic.  Burchick Construction Co., Inc., B-417310,  Mar. 20, 2019 (unpublished decision).  In July 2019, after reevaluating proposals, the agency again awarded the contract to C&C.  Burchick again protested to our Office, challenging the award decision and the agency’s evaluation of its proposal.  The agency again notified our Office that it intended to take corrective action by assigning a new contracting officer to the procurement, establishing a new Technical Evaluation Board (TEB) to reevaluate Burchick’s proposal, and making a new best-value award decision.  As a result, we dismissed the protest as academic.  Burchick Construction Co., Inc., B-417310.2, Sept.