IBM Corporation (UNAWRD-19-R-UNIF)

B-417596.10 Mar 17, 2021 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights International Business Machines Corporation (IBM), of Bethesda, Maryland, protests the terms of request for task order proposals (RFTOP) No. UNAWRD-19-R-UNIF, which was issued by the Department of the Army, U.S. Army Contracting Command – Rock Island, for Unified Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Capability Support Services. IBM alleges that the Army's response to its prior post-award protest and subsequent clarifications to the RFTOP issued as part of the agency's corrective action are ambiguous and do not allow offerors to intelligently prepare their proposals, or for the agency to evaluate them, on a common basis. We dismiss 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.   Decision Matter of:  International Business Machines Corporation File:  B-417596.10 Date:  March 17, 2021 Keith R. Szeliga, Esq., Adam Bartolanzo, Esq., Daniel Alvarado, Esq., and Shaunna Bailey, Esq., Sheppard, Mullin, Richter, & Hampton LLP, for the protester. Pamela Kennerly Ignatius, Esq., and Wade L. Brown, Esq., Department of the Army, for the agency. Evan D. Wesser, Esq., and Edward Goldstein, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Protest challenging terms of solicitation in connection with corrective action taken in response to a previous post-award protest is dismissed because the protest challenges patent ambiguities in the terms of the solicitation that the protester previously knew or reasonably should have known of and challenged. DECISION   International Business Machines Corporation (IBM), of Bethesda, Maryland, protests the terms of request for task order proposals (RFTOP) No. UNAWRD-19-R-UNIF, which was issued by the Department of the Army, U.S. Army Contracting Command – Rock Island, for Unified Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Capability Support Services.  IBM alleges that the Army’s response to its prior post-award protest and subsequent clarifications to the RFTOP issued as part of the agency’s corrective action are ambiguous and do not allow offerors to intelligently prepare their proposals, or for the agency to evaluate them, on a common basis. We dismiss the protest. BACKGROUND The RFTOP, which was issued on June 10, 2019, and subsequently amended 10 times, seeks proposals from holders of the National Institutes of Health Chief Information Officer – Solutions and Partners 3 (CIO-SP3) multiple-award, indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract for the provision of Unified ERP Capability Support Services.[1]  Specifically, the Army seeks to procure capability support services for six Army ERP systems, including:  contract and program management; administration of help desk services; hardware and software maintenance; application development; training and knowledge management; transition services; compliance; cybersecurity management; organizational change management; and Agile software development implementation.[2]  Agency Report (AR) (B-417596.8), Tab 3, RFTOP (conformed through amend. 8), at 4.  The RFTOP contemplates the award of a single task order with cost-plus-fixed-fee, fixed-price, and cost-no-fee contract line items, and a 12-month base period, four 12‑month option periods, and a 12-month award term.  Id. at 3-4.  The procurement was to be conducted in three phases.  Relevant here, IBM and Accenture Federal Services, LLC, of Arlington, Virginia, were the only firms invited to participate in Phase III.  Based on its evaluation of Phase III proposals, the agency is to make award on a best-suited tradeoff basis, considering three evaluation factors:  (1) technical; (2) cost/price; and (3) small business participation.  The technical factor is significantly more important than cost/price, the cost/price factor is more important than the small business participation factor, and the non-price factors, when combined, are significantly more important than cost/price.  Id.