KeyW Corporation

B-417774,B-417774.2 Oct 04, 2019 Jump To FULL REPORT VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights KeyW Corporation (KeyW), of Hanover, Maryland, protests the issuance of a task order to ManTech Advanced Systems International, Inc. (ManTech), of Herndon, Virginia, under request for task order proposals (RFTOP) No. SSESNG-19-R-2089, issued by the Department of the Army, Army Contracting Command--Aberdeen Proving Ground, for software and systems engineering support, and interoperability engineering technical services. The protester challenges the evaluation of proposals and the selection decision. We deny the protest in part and dismiss it in part. 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:  KeyW Corporation File:  B-417774; B-417774.2 Date:  October 4, 2019 Paul A. Debolt, Esq., Emily A. Unnasch, Esq., Chelsea B. Knudson, Esq., and Christina E. Wood, Esq., Venable, LLP, for the protester. Kenneth B. Weckstein, Esq., and Andrew C. Crawford, Esq., Brown Rudnick LLP, for ManTech Advanced Systems International, Inc., the intervenor. Debra Talley, Esq., and Brittany York, Esq., Department of the Army, for the agency. Charmaine A. Stevenson, Esq., and Laura Eyester, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST 1.  Protest challenging agency’s evaluation of protester’s cost/price submission is denied where the record shows that the evaluation was reasonable and consistent with the terms of the solicitation. 2.  Protest allegations that agency engaged in a disparate evaluation of proposals under the past performance factor, and that the source selection decision was flawed, are dismissed where protester’s proposal was ineligible for award as a result of flaws in its cost submissions; thus protester is not an interested party to challenge other aspects of the evaluation or the selection decision. DECISION KeyW Corporation (KeyW), of Hanover, Maryland, protests the issuance of a task order to ManTech Advanced Systems International, Inc. (ManTech), of Herndon, Virginia, under request for task order proposals (RFTOP) No. SSESNG-19-R-2089, issued by the Department of the Army, Army Contracting Command--Aberdeen Proving Ground, for software and systems engineering support, and interoperability engineering technical services.  The protester challenges the evaluation of proposals and the selection decision. We deny the protest in part and dismiss it in part. BACKGROUND The Army issued the RFTOP on April 4, 2019, to holders of the Army’s unrestricted Software and Systems Engineering Services Next Generation multiple-award, indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contracts to provide engineering and technical maintenance for the Army’s distributed common ground family of systems to support the U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command, Software Engineering Command.  Contracting Officer’s Statement and Memorandum of Law (COS/MOL) at 1-2.  The RFTOP contemplated award of a cost-plus-fixed-fee task order with a period of performance consisting of a 30-day phase-in period, 11-month base period, and four 1-year option periods.  Agency Report (AR), Tab 10, RFTOP, at 8. Proposals were to be evaluated against the following factors, listed in descending order of importance:  past performance, cost/price, and quality assurance surveillance plan (QASP).  RFTOP at 86.  Past performance was to be evaluated for recency, relevancy, and quality, and assigned the following ratings:  substantial confidence, satisfactory confidence, neutral confidence, limited confidence, or no confidence.  Id. at 86-88.  The QASP was to be evaluated as acceptable or unacceptable.  Id. at 89-90.  Award was to be made using a best-value tradeoff selection methodology.  Id. at 86. As relevant here, for the cost/price factor, the RFTOP required offerors and their proposed subcontractors to provide their cost/price proposals in a Microsoft Excel workbook, and permitted subcontractors to submit proprietary data directly to the government.  See RFTOP at 80-85.  The workbook was to include several worksheets, including an indirect rate worksheet that showed the proposed indirect cost rates.  Id. at 81, 83.  The RFTOP advised offerors that “[f]ailure to provide [the cost/price proposals] as directed shall result in the entire proposal being considered ineligible for award.”  Id.