100 Westminster Partners, LLC (6RI0019)

B-418216,B-418216.2,B-418216.3 Jan 27, 2020 Jump To FULL REPORT VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights 100 Westminster Partners, LLC (Westminster), of Providence, Rhode Island, protests the award of a lease for office space to Providence Financial Plaza (Providence), LLC, of Brooklyn, New York, by the General Services Administration (GSA), under request for lease proposals (RLP) No. 6RI0019. The protester asserts that the building proposed by Providence does not meet all of the solicitation requirements and thus is ineligible for award. The protester also challenges the agency's price evaluation. 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:  100 Westminster Partners, LLC File:  B-418216; B-418216.2; B-418216.3 Date:  January 27, 2020 Mary Beth Bosco, Esq., and Gordon Griffin, Esq., Holland & Knight LLP, for the protester. Alex D. Tomaszczuk, Esq., Meghan D. Doherty, Esq., and Dinesh C. Dharmadasa, Esq.,  Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP, for Providence Financial Plaza, LLC, the intervenor. Jessica Gunzel, Esq., General Servcies Administration, for the agency. Mary G. Curcio, Esq., and Laura Eyester, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST 1.  Protest that agency improperly awarded lease to offeror that proposed space on contiguous floors is denied where space was being procured for the United States Attorneys’ Office and solicitation incorporated design guide which permitted space on contiguous floors. 2.  Protest that agency improperly awarded lease to offeror that proposed space in a building where a firm specializing in criminal law was also a tenant, in violation of the terms of the lease solicitation, is denied where criminal law is just one of firm’s 25 practice areas. 3.  Protest that agency improperly awarded lease to offeror that failed to meet solicitation’s energy efficiency requirements is denied where protester does not identify any specific energy efficiency requirements that awardee’s proposed building will not meet. 4.  Protest that agency is required to cancel lease because of a conflict of interest due to both protester and awardee being represented by agents that work for the same broker is denied where protester does not demonstrate it was competitively prejudiced. 5.  Protest that agency performed improper present value price evaluation is denied where protester does not demonstrate that it was competitively prejudiced by error.  DECISION   100 Westminster Partners, LLC (Westminster), of Providence, Rhode Island, protests the award of a lease for office space to Providence Financial Plaza (Providence), LLC, of Brooklyn, New York, by the General Services Administration (GSA), under request for lease proposals (RLP) No. 6RI0019.  The protester asserts that the building proposed by Providence does not meet all of the solicitation requirements and thus is ineligible for award.  The protester also challenges the agency’s price evaluation.  We deny the protest. BACKGROUND The RLP, issued on August 5, 2018, provided for the award of a 15-year lease of office space in Providence, Rhode Island, for the United States Attorneys’ Office (USAO).  Lease Contracting Officer’s Statement (LCOS) at 1; Agency Report (AR), Exh. 1, RLP, at 1.  GSA was seeking to lease between 19,950 and 22,050 of American National Standards Institute/Building Owners and Managers Association Office Area square feet (ABOA SF)[1] of contiguous space.  RLP at 1.  The RLP informed offerors that the lease would be issued to the offeror that submitted the lowest-priced, technically acceptable lease proposal.  Id. at 14. The RLP included a statement of requirements that the offered property must meet.  As relevant here, space was required to be contiguous.  Id. at 1.  In addition, the RLP included:  a prohibition on leasing space in a building that houses law firms specializing in criminal defense or immigration cases, RLP, Exh. B, Department of Justice (DOJ) Executive Office for the United States Attorneys Design Guide, at 27; a requirement for parking spaces, RLP at 2; and, energy efficiency requirements.  Id. at 7.  The RLP also provided that the agency was prohibited from awarding a lease in a 100-year flood plain unless there was no practicable alternative.  Id. at 6.  The solicitation also addressed potential conflicts of interest.  Id. at 11.  The solicitation advised offerors that the agency would determine the lowest price by conducting a present value price evaluation.  Id.