ITI Solutions, Inc. (FA002119RA004)

B-418132 Jan 14, 2020 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights ITI Solutions, Inc., of San Antonio, Texas, protests the award of a contract to Oscar Deuce, LLC dba ODL Services, LLC, of Virginia Beach, Virginia, under request for proposals (RFP) No. FA002119RA004, issued by the Department of the Air Force for flight training services. The protester challenges several aspects of the agency's evaluation of its proposal, including the agency's evaluation of its proposed staffing as technically unacceptable. We deny the protest. 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:  ITI Solutions, Inc. File:  B-418132 Date:  January 14, 2020 Anthony H. Anikeeff, Esq., Williams Mullen, for the protester.  Michael J. Gardner, Esq., Shomari B. Wade, Esq., and Brett A. Castellat, Esq., Greenberg Traurig, LLP, for Oscar Deuce, LLC dba ODL Services, LLC, the intervenor.  Colonel Patricia S. Wiegman-Lenz and Isabelle P. Cutting, Esq., Department of the Air Force, for the agency. April Y. Shields, Esq., and Christina Sklarew, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Protest that the agency improperly evaluated the protester’s proposal as technically unacceptable is denied where the record shows that the agency’s evaluation was reasonable and consistent with the terms of the solicitation. DECISION ITI Solutions, Inc., of San Antonio, Texas, protests the award of a contract to Oscar Deuce, LLC dba ODL Services, LLC, of Virginia Beach, Virginia, under request for proposals (RFP) No. FA002119RA004, issued by the Department of the Air Force for flight training services.  The protester challenges several aspects of the agency’s evaluation of its proposal, including the agency’s evaluation of its proposed staffing as technically unacceptable. We deny the protest. BACKGROUND The RFP, issued on May 8, 2019, as a service-disabled veteran-owned small business set-aside, sought a contractor to provide flight training services for the Air Force Special Operations Command.[1]  AR, Tab 3, RFP, at 5; PWS at 3.[2]  The contractor would be required to provide all personnel, supervision, transportation, and all other necessary items and services.  RFP at 5; PWS at 3.  Of relevance here, the RFP required the contractor to provide aircrew and stated that “contractor[-]provided mission aircrew shall perform mission planning, mission pre-briefs, sortie execution[,] and debrief and post-mission documentation.”  PWS at 3. The RFP contemplated the award of a fixed-price contract with a base year period and two 1-year option periods for a total anticipated value of over $20 million.  RFP at 3-4; PWS at 12; Contracting Officer’s Statement (COS), Nov. 6, 2019, at 3.  The RFP established that award would be made on a best-value tradeoff basis, weighing three factors:  technical capability, past performance, and price.  RFP amend. 4 at 11-12. With respect to the technical capability factor, the RFP provided that the agency would evaluate proposals based on the offeror’s understanding of and ability to meet the solicitation requirements.  RFP amend. 4 at 13.  Of relevance here, the technical capability factor included a staffing component for which offerors were required to submit a staffing plan and for which the agency would assign a combined technical capability and technical risk rating.[3]  Id.  The RFP provided estimated workload requirements and advised that the staffing component would be met when the offeror’s proposed staffing plan “demonstrate[s] a reasonable approach to meeting the estimated workload requirements identified in Appendix B of the PWS within 30 days of contract award.”  Id. at 15; see also PWS at 13, 16. For the estimated workload requirements, the RFP provided that the contractor would be required to support 80 sorties per month, including up to six sorties per day with up to three sorties occurring simultaneously.  PWS at 3, 16.  The RFP also provided that “[p]ilots may fly more than one sortie per day provided they comply with duty day requirements in 14 Code of Federal Regulations [C.F.R.] Part 135.265.”[4]  Id. at 12; see also AR, Tab 6a, Questions and Answers, June 5, 2019, at 9 (incorporating the reference to duty day requirement per 14 C.F.R. § 135.265 in response to a question about the permissibility of allowing “the same pilot [to] fly one flight in the morning and one in the afternoon”).  As applicable to this procurement, this provision requires aircrew to take 9 hours of rest because a double-turn could take up to 7 hours of flight time.  See Memorandum of Law (MOL), Nov.