Verizon Business Network Services, Inc

B-418073,B-418073.2,B-418073.3 Dec 26, 2019 Jump To FULL REPORT VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Verizon Business Network Services, Inc., of Ashburn, Virginia, protests the issuance of a task order to Qwest Government Services, Inc., d/b/a CenturyLink QGS, of Arlington, Virginia, under task order request for proposals (RFP) No. 140D04-19-R-0002, issued by the Department of the Interior (DOI) for data communications and associated information technology services and equipment. The protester challenges the agency's evaluation of its own proposals under the technical, past performance, and price factors; the agency's conduct of discussions; the agency's evaluation of assumptions made in one of the awardee's price proposals; and the agency's best-value tradeoff. 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:  Verizon Business Network Services, Inc. File:  B-418073; B-418073.2; B-418073.3 Date:  December 26, 2019 Jonathan D. Shaffer, Esq., Mary Pat Buckenmeyer, Esq., Todd M. Garland, Esq., and John S. Pachter, Esq., Smith Pachter McWhorter PLC, for the protester. Shelly L. Ewald, Esq., and Emily C. Brown, Esq., Watt Tieder Hoffar & Fitzgerald, LLP, for Qwest Government Services, Inc. d/b/a CenturyLink QGS, the intervenor. William B. Blake, Esq., and Robert D. Banfield, Esq., Department of the Interior, for the agency. Heather Self, Esq., and Edward Goldstein, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST 1. Protester’s challenge to the agency’s evaluation of assumptions made in the awardee’s price proposal is denied because the awardee’s assumptions do not take material exception to the solicitation’s requirements. 2. Protester’s challenges to its own evaluation, the agency’s conduct of discussions, and the agency’s best-value tradeoff are dismissed because at the time of award the protester’s underlying indefinite-delivery indefinite-quantity contract did not include all of the services required by the solicitation. DECISION Verizon Business Network Services, Inc., of Ashburn, Virginia, protests the issuance of a task order to Qwest Government Services, Inc., d/b/a CenturyLink QGS, of Arlington, Virginia, under task order request for proposals (RFP) No. 140D04-19-R-0002, issued by the Department of the Interior (DOI) for data communications and associated information technology services and equipment.  The protester challenges the agency’s evaluation of its own proposals under the technical, past performance, and price factors; the agency’s conduct of discussions; the agency’s evaluation of assumptions made in one of the awardee’s price proposals; and the agency’s best-value tradeoff. We deny the protest in part and dismiss it in part. BACKGROUND The agency issued the RFP on January 25, 2019, under the General Services Administration’s (GSA) Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions (EIS) multiple-award indefinite-delivery indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) government-wide acquisition contract using the procedures of Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) subpart 16.5.  Agency Report (AR), Tab 5, RFP Standard Form 33.  The agency divided its requirements into two task areas, each of which would be evaluated separately and could be awarded separately to different EIS IDIQ contract holders or could be awarded together to the same EIS IDIQ contract holder.  Id.; AR, Tab 40, RFP, at 147.  Task Area 1 was for managed core network services, requiring the successful contractor to “provide the necessary services to design, engineer, build, secure, operate and maintain the [DOI’s] enterprise network.”  RFP at 41.  Further, the successful contractor would provide service-related equipment (SRE) to support software defined wide-area network (SD-WAN) capability; virtual private network service; private line service; and other EIS services needed to transport DOI’s private, internal, enterprise network, including provision of external network-to-network interfaces to connect the agency’s data services to external resources.  Id.  Task Area 2 was for managed access services, requiring the successful contractor to “provide [internet protocol services] and commercial fixed satellite services to connect to the enterprise core network.”  Id.  The solicitation contemplated issuance of one or more time-and-materials task order(s) with a base period from the date of award to March 31, 2021, followed by ten 1-year option periods, and a final 16-month option period.  Id. at 98.  The solicitation advised offerors that the agency intended to make award in fiscal year 2019 (i.e., before September 30, 2019), as transitioning from the existing contracts for the solicited services needed to occur by May 2020.  AR, Tab 24, RFP Modification No.