Adams and Associates, Inc.

B-417495 Jul 23, 2019 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Adams and Associates, Inc. (Adams), of Reno, Nevada, protests the award of a contract to Management & Training Corporation (MTC), of Centerville, Utah, under request for proposals (RFP) No. 1630J1-18-N-00001, issued by the Department of Labor (DOL), for the operation of the St. Louis Job Corps Center. The protester challenges the agency's evaluation of its proposal and the selection 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:  Adams and Associates, Inc. File:  B-417495 Date:  July 23, 2019 Katie A. Calogero, Esq., and Anne B. Perry, Esq., Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP, for the protester. Alex P. Hontos, Esq., and Daniel Falknor, Esq., Dorsey & Whitney LLP, for Mananagement & Training Corporation, the intervenor. Virginia Ackerman, Esq., Dennis A. Adelson, Esq., Jose Otero, Esq., Department of Labor, for the agency. Robert J. Y. Nunnery, 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 the agency’s evaluation of the protester’s proposal as unacceptable is denied where the evaluation was reasonable and consistent with the terms of the solicitation. DECISION Adams and Associates, Inc. (Adams), of Reno, Nevada, protests the award of a contract to Management & Training Corporation (MTC), of Centerville, Utah, under request for proposals (RFP) No. 1630J1-18-N-00001, issued by the Department of Labor (DOL), for the operation of the St. Louis Job Corps Center.  The protester challenges the agency’s evaluation of its proposal and the selection decision. We deny the protest. BACKGROUND The RFP, issued on December 12, 2017, pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) part 15, anticipated the award of a single contract with fixed-priced and cost‑reimbursement contract line items for a 2-year base period and three 1-year options for the operation of the St. Louis Job Corps Center.  Agency Report (AR), Tab 1, RFP at 4-8, 73, 97; Contracting Officer’s Statement (COS) at 1, 2.  The center provides academic, career technical, career success skills, and career development training, and related support services, for an estimated total of 520 students consisting of 440 residential students and 80 nonresidential students.  RFP at 4.  Award was to be made on a best-value tradeoff basis, considering the following factors listed in descending order of importance:  (1) technical approach; (2) staff resources; (3) relevant experience; (4) past performance; and (5) cost.  Id. at 93-97.  The technical approach, staff resources, and relevant experience factors each included several subfactors.  Id. at 93.  DOL received four proposals, including from Adams and MTC, which were evaluated as follows:[1]   Adams MTC Technical Approach Very Good Outstanding Staff Resources Unacceptable[2] Outstanding Relevant Experience Very Relevant Very Relevant Past Performance Satisfactory Confidence Satisfactory Confidence Evaluated Price $74,813,995 $77,945,332 AR, Tab 13, Award Memorandum at 7. The contracting officer (CO), acting as the source selection authority (SSA), reviewed and accepted the technical evaluation panel (TEP)’s evaluation, performed a comparative assessment of the proposals, and concluded that MTC’s proposal represented the best value to the government, identifying discriminators in MTC’s proposal that were worth the price premium associated with MTC’s proposal.  On March 28, 2019, Adams was notified of the agency’s decision to award the contract to MTC.