Inquiries, Inc.

B-417415.2 Dec 30, 2019 Jump To FULL REPORT VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Inquiries, Inc., a small business, of Chevy Chase, Maryland, protests the award of a contract to iWorks Corporation, also a small business, of McLean, Virginia, by the Department of Defense, Defense Security Service (DSS), under request for proposals (RFP) No. HS0021-19-R-0003, which was issued for support of the Defense Vetting Directorate (DVD). Inquiries argues that the award to iWorks was improper because the awardee had disqualifying organizational conflicts of interest (OCIs), and the agency unreasonably evaluated the awardee's technical and price proposals. We sustain in part and deny in part 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:  Inquiries, Inc. File:  B-417415.2 Date:  December 30, 2019 Craig A. Holman, Esq., and Michael E. Samuels, Esq., Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer, LLP, for the protester.  Jonathan T. Williams, Esq., Kathryn V. Flood, Esq, Patrick T. Rothwell, Esq., and Samuel S. Finnerty, Esq., Piliero Mazza PLLC, for iWorks Corporation, the intervenor.  SoCheung Lee, Esq., Department of Defense, for the agency.  Jonathan L. Kang, Esq., and Laura Eyester, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST 1.  Protest that the awardee had disqualifying organizational conflicts of interests is sustained where the record does not show that the agency meaningfully considered the potential conflicts arising from the awardee’s subcontractor’s prior and ongoing work on other contracts. 2.  Protest challenging the evaluation of the awardee’s proposed program manager is denied where there record shows that the agency reasonably evaluated the individual’s experience. 3.  Protest challenging the evaluation of the awardee’s staffing plan is denied where the agency reasonably found that the awardee proposed efficiencies as compared to the workload assumptions in the independent government estimate. 4.  Protest challenging the agency’s price realism analysis is denied where the protester does not demonstrate that the agency’s standard deviation calculation affected the reasonableness of the analysis. 5.  Protest challenging the agency’s evaluation of the awardee’s professional compensation is sustained where the agency’s evaluation relied on a comparison of the offerors’ burdened labor rates, rather than salary ranges and fringe benefits offered. DECISION Inquiries, Inc., a small business, of Chevy Chase, Maryland, protests the award of a contract to iWorks Corporation, also a small business, of McLean, Virginia, by the Department of Defense, Defense Security Service (DSS)[1], under request for proposals (RFP) No. HS0021-19-R-0003, which was issued for support of the Defense Vetting Directorate (DVD).  Inquiries argues that the award to iWorks was improper because the awardee had disqualifying organizational conflicts of interest (OCIs), and the agency unreasonably evaluated the awardee’s technical and price proposals.  We sustain in part and deny in part the protest. BACKGROUND The DVD is an entity within DSS that is responsible for conducting security, suitability, and credentialing background investigations, and clearance adjudications for Department of Defense (DOD) personnel.  Contracting Officer’s Statement (COS) at 2; Agency Report (AR), Tab 4, Performance Work Statement (PWS), at 1.[2]  As relevant here, the DVD operates the Vetting Risk Operations Center (VROC), which is a “centralized entity” within the DVD responsible for vetting personnel for access, continuously evaluating eligibility information, and integrating and sharing information to identify and mitigate insider threats.  PWS at 1.  The DVD also operates the Consolidated Adjudications Facility (CAF), which is responsible for adjudication of personnel background information for DOD, as well as for Congressional personnel and the Supreme Court of the United States.  Id.