49er Pressure Wash and Water Service, Inc.

B-417926,B-417926.2 Nov 27, 2019 Jump To FULL REPORT VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights 49er Pressure Wash and Water Service, Inc., a small business located in Angels Camp, California, protests the decision of the Department of Agriculture, United States Forest Service, to find its quotation ineligible for award under request for quotations (RFQ) No. 129J6119Q7005, for water handling services. The protester argues that the Forest Service unreasonably found its quotation ineligible for award in violation of the solicitation's terms and the agency's prior practices. We deny in part and dismiss in part the protest. View Decision Decision Matter of:  49er Pressure Wash and Water Service, Inc. File:  B-417926; B-417926.2 Date:  November 27, 2019 John Sasser for the protester. Melissa D. McClellan, Esq., Department of Agriculture, for the agency. Heather Weiner, Esq., and Jennifer D. Westfall-McGrail, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Protest that the agency improperly found protester’s quotation ineligible for award is denied where the agency’s interpretation of the solicitation’s terms was reasonable. DECISION 49er Pressure Wash and Water Service, Inc., a small business located in Angels Camp, California, protests the decision of the Department of Agriculture, United States Forest Service, to find its quotation ineligible for award under request for quotations (RFQ) No. 129J6119Q7005, for water handling services.  The protester argues that the Forest Service unreasonably found its quotation ineligible for award in violation of the solicitation’s terms and the agency’s prior practices. We deny in part and dismiss in part the protest. BACKGROUND The Forest Service issued the RFQ on March 29, 2019, as a set aside for small business concerns, using the commercial item procedures of Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) part 12.  RFQ at 1.  The solicitation seeks the services of water tenders and engines to support emergency incidents on a local, regional, and nationwide basis.  RFQ at 19.  These services include dust abatement, such as watering down traveled areas, and providing water to other firefighting equipment (including engines, crews’ backpacks, portable helicopter dipping tanks, and storage bladders).  Agency Report (AR) at 1.  The solicitation anticipated establishing blanket purchase agreements (BPAs) with multiple vendors.[1]  RFQ at 6.  The RFQ provided that the dollar limitation for an individual order is the simplified acquisition threshold, but that, due to the sporadic occurrence of incident activity, the placement of any orders is not guaranteed.  Id.  The RFQ explained that the agency would award a sufficient number of BPAs to meet incident resource needs, and that the number of BPAs awarded would be determined based on historical usage and other relevant data such as predictive services information.  Id. at 7. The RFQ provided that BPAs would be awarded to small business vendors that were considered responsible, with fair and reasonable pricing, with low or unknown performance risk, and whose resources were considered technically acceptable after inspection.  Id.  Specifically, the solicitation provided that quotations would be evaluated based on the following three evaluation factors:  operational acceptability of equipment, past performance dependability risk, and price reasonableness.  Id.  With regard to operational acceptability, the RFQ explained that “[a] quote will be considered operationally acceptable if the offered resource meets the minimum requirements stated in the specification.”  Id.  Section D of the solicitation set forth the requirements for equipment.  As relevant to this protest, the solicitation provided that “[n]o engine or water tender shall exceed the manufacturer’s Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR) or Gross Axle Weight Rating (GAWR) per axle when the vehicle is fully loaded and equipped.”  RFQ at 20. The solicitation also provided a “check sheet” as an attachment to the RFQ and required that vendors submit documentation to support the information required by the check sheet for each truck submitted.  RFQ at 3; AR, Tab D, RFQ Water Handling Check Sheet, at 1-2.  For example, vendors were required to include documentation for each piece of equipment showing the manufacturer’s front gross axle weight rating, rear gross axle weight rating, and GVWR.  Id.  In addition, vendors were to include weight receipts from a certified scale for fully loaded equipment showing the certified gross vehicle weight, certified front axle loaded weight, and certified rear axle loaded weight.  Id.  The solicitation required that vendors submit hard copies of these documents to the Forest Service by the RFQ’s May 7 due date for receipt of quotations.  RFQ at 3.  The solicitation cautioned that “[a]ny documentation packet sent incomplete, i.e., without forms and/or missing documentation, is ...