Salem Regional Medical Center

B-418037 Dec 23, 2019 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Salem Community Hospital, doing business as Salem Regional Medical Center, of Salem, Ohio, protests the exclusion of its proposal from the competitive range under request for proposals (RFP) No. 15B21619R00000001, issued by the Department of Justice, Bureau of Prisons (BOP), for commercial medical services for the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) Elkton, at Lisbon, Ohio. Salem, the incumbent contractor, argues that BOP misevaluated its proposal as unacceptable. 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:  Salem Community Hospital dba Salem Regional Medical Center File:  B-418037 Date:  December 23, 2019 Joseph J. Feltes, Esq., and Daniel J. Glass, Esq., Buckingham, Doolittle & Burroughs, LLC, for the protester.  Oleta L. Vassilopoulos, Esq., Department of Justice, for the agency.  Paul N. Wengert, Esq., and Tania Calhoun, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST 1.  Protest that the protester’s proposal to provide medical services for a federal correctional facility was misevaluated as technically unacceptable is denied where the proposal was at best ambiguous because the protester failed to provide pricing for some of the services that it described in the technical proposal.  2.  Protest that the agency improperly refused to evaluate the protester’s pricing that used a different pricing methodology from the one expressly required the solicitation is dismissed as an untimely challenge to the terms of the solicitation.  DECISION Salem Community Hospital, doing business as Salem Regional Medical Center, of Salem, Ohio, protests the exclusion of its proposal from the competitive range under request for proposals (RFP) No. 15B21619R00000001, issued by the Department of Justice, Bureau of Prisons (BOP), for commercial medical services for the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) Elkton, at Lisbon, Ohio.  Salem, the incumbent contractor, argues that BOP misevaluated its proposal as unacceptable.  We deny the protest in part and dismiss it in part. BACKGROUND The RFP, issued April 10, 2019, sought proposals to provide comprehensive medical services for a base year, four annual option periods, and a six-month extension of services option, under an indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) fixed-price requirements contract.  RFP at 1, 15 & attach. 3 at 1 (special contract conditions attachment); Agency Report (AR) Memorandum of Law (MOL) at 2.  The RFP contained a performance work statement (PWS) that described the agency’s requirement in terms of five outputs: Output No. 1: Provide inpatient facility services, outpatient facility services, and skilled-nursing facility services . . . (Cross-referencing pricing categories 1a, 1b, and 1c.). Output No. 2: Provide[] professional services . . . (Cross-referencing pricing categories 2a, 2b, 2c1, 2c2, 2c3, and 2c4.). Output No. 3: Submit properly-priced invoices for services rendered. Output No. 4: Manage medical record information . . . . Output No. 5: Maintain open avenues of communication . . . . RFP attach. 2 at 2-3. The RFP stated that “output items 1 and 2 are optional deliverables,” but encouraged offerors to submit comprehensive proposals to provide all outputs:  “[o]fferors who propose less comprehensive approaches will be evaluated accordingly.”  Id. at 2.  The PWS went on to further define the outputs.  In proposing output No. 1, [t]he services required to satisfy Output [No.] 1 may include inpatient facility and outpatient facility, including emergency room services.  Inpatient visits for non-emergency services shall require private room accommodations with available space for up to three armed or unarmed guards per inmate. Id. at 3. For output No. 2, the PWS explained that “[a]s an additional tool to satisfy Output No. 2, professional services may be performed within the confines of FCI Elkton.”  Id. at 5.  The PWS then identified eight “specialty clinics/sessions” that the agency desired through on-site clinics, including cardiologist, neurologist, general surgeon, optometrist, orthopedic surgeon, and physical therapist.  Id.  Offerors were to submit a technical proposal, past performance information, and a business proposal, as separate volumes.  The technical proposal was to describe the offeror’s services and its approach to performing the RFP requirements, including a discussion “in detail [of] the diversity of services” available.  RFP attach.