UltiSat Inc. (1376652)

B-418146.2,B-418146.3 May 19, 2020 Jump To FULL REPORT VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights UltiSat, Inc., of Gaithersburg, Maryland, protests the issuance of a task order to SES Government Solutions, Inc., (SES GS) of Reston, Virginia, under request for proposals (RFP) No. 1376652/Tracking No. CS30010, issued by the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) to support the National Guard Bureau Advanced Liaison (ADVON) and Dismounted Strike Kit (DSK) satellite services requirement. 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:  UltiSat Inc. File:  B-418146.2; B-418146.3 Date:  May 19, 2020 Alexander B. Ginsberg, Esq., Meghan D. Doherty, Esq., Aaron S. Ralph, Esq., and Toghrul Shukurlu, Esq., Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP, for the protester. Keith R. Szeliga, Esq., Keeley A. McCarty, Esq., and Daniel Alvarado, Esq., Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP, for SES Government Solutions, Inc., the intervenor. Colleen A. Eagan, Esq., Autumn Hazy, Esq., and Joseph Buitron, Esq., Defense Information Systems Agency, for the agency.Kenneth Kilgour, Esq., and Jennifer D. Westfall-McGrail, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Protest challenging agency’s evaluation of offerors’ technical proposals is denied where the record demonstrates that the evaluation was reasonable and consistent with the terms of the solicitation. DECISION UltiSat, Inc., of Gaithersburg, Maryland, protests the issuance of a task order to SES Government Solutions, Inc., (SES GS) of Reston, Virginia, under request for proposals (RFP) No. 1376652/Tracking No. CS30010, issued by the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) to support the National Guard Bureau Advanced Liaison (ADVON) and Dismounted Strike Kit (DSK) satellite services requirement. We deny the protest. BACKGROUND DISA requires satellite services to support the National Guard Bureau’s Weapons of Mass Destruction team and the Marine Corp’s Chemical Biological Incident Response Force.  To that end, the solicitation, which was issued pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation part 16, contemplated the issuance of a task order under the General Services Administration’s Complex Commercial Satellite Communications (CS3) indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract, for satellite services to support ADVON and DSK terminals in North America and Guam.  Agency Report (AR), Tab 1, Conformed RFP at 1; AR, Tab 1A, RFP attach. 1, Performance Work Statement (PWS) at 1-4.  The period of performance included a 1-year base period and four 1-year options.  RFP at 1.  The RFP provided for issuance of the task order to the firm whose proposal represented the best value to the government, considering one technical factor--technical/management approach--and price, with the technical factor being more important than price.  Id. at 6-7.  The technical factor had five subfactors; the agency would assign the first subfactor, iDirect networks, an adjectival rating, and the agency would assign a rating of acceptable or unacceptable to the other four subfactors.[1]  RFP at 6-7.  A rating of unacceptable on any subfactor would render a proposal ineligible for award.  Id. at 7. The solicitation required the contractor to provide two iDirect networks to support North America (NA1 and NA2).  Each network was to be supported by a separate satellite, and each satellite supported by a geographically separate teleport.  Of relevance to this protest, PWS subparagraph 6.2.1, subtask 2.1 included the following requirement: Each network shall provide a committed information rate[[2]] (CIR), of 2048 kilobits per second (kbps) out-route from the hub to each remote terminal and 1024 kbps in-route from each remote terminal to the hub, simultaneously to each of eighteen terminals, nine ADVON remote terminals and nine DSK manpacks. Each network shall be provisioned to support 36 terminals, eighteen ADVON remote terminals and eighteen DSK manpacks; it is understood that if more than eighteen terminals are online simultaneously, the listed CIR may not be achieved and terminals may operate at reduced information rates. PWS at 4.The RFP advised offerors that in evaluating proposals “[t]he Government may place preference on solutions that exceed the minimum number of simultaneously supported ADVON and DSK terminals in each of the North America networks, while maintaining the committed information rate outlined in PWS subparagraph 6.2.1., Subtask 2.1.”  RFP at 7 (emphasis in original).  The RFP further advised that “[t]he Government may place preference on solutions that have remaining unoccupied bandwidth once the occupied bandwidth for the maximum number of simultaneously supported terminals has been identified.”  Id.