Agile-Bot II, LLC (N66001-18-R-0011)

B-418264.4 Jul 30, 2020 Jump To FULL REPORT VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Agile-Bot II, LLC, a small business concern of Reston, Virginia, requests that our Office recommend that it be reimbursed the reasonable costs of filing and pursuing its protest challenging the award of a contract to FreeAlliance.com, LLC, a small business concern of McLean, Virginia, under request for proposal (RFP) No. N66001-18-R-0011, issued by the Department of the Navy on behalf of the United States Marine Corps for advanced cyber support services. The requester contends that the agency failed to take prompt corrective action in response to clearly meritorious protest grounds. Although the Navy agrees to reimburse the requester for costs related to certain of its protest grounds, it does not agree to reimburse the protester for the cost of pursuing an issue that was not timely raised. We deny the request to recommend that the agency reimburse costs related to pursuing protest issues beyond those the agency has agreed to pay. 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:  Agile-Bot II, LLC--Costs File:  B-418264.4 Date:  July 30, 2020 James Y. Boland, Esq., Chelsea B. Knudson, Esq., Spencer P. Williams, Esq., and Caleb E. McCallum, Esq., Venable LLP, for the requester. Diana L. King, Esq., Department of the Navy, for the agency. Uri R. Yoo, Esq., and Laura Eyester, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Request for recommendation for reimbursement of costs of filing and pursuing protest issues beyond those the agency has agreed to pay is denied where the remaining contested protest issue was untimely; a prerequisite to recovery of protest costs related to agency corrective action is a timely filed protest allegation. DECISION div=""> Agile-Bot II, LLC, a small business concern of Reston, Virginia, requests that our Office recommend that it be reimbursed the reasonable costs of filing and pursuing its protest challenging the award of a contract to FreeAlliance.com, LLC, a small business concern of McLean, Virginia, under request for proposal (RFP) No. N66001-18-R-0011, issued by the Department of the Navy on behalf of the United States Marine Corps for advanced cyber support services.  The requester contends that the agency failed to take prompt corrective action in response to clearly meritorious protest grounds.  Although the Navy agrees to reimburse the requester for costs related to certain of its protest grounds, it does not agree to reimburse the protester for the cost of pursuing an issue that was not timely raised. We deny the request to recommend that the agency reimburse costs related to pursuing protest issues beyond those the agency has agreed to pay. BACKGROUND The RFP, issued on September 5, 2018, contemplated the award of a cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to provide advanced cyber support services for the U.S. Marine Corps Cyberspace Operations Group.  Agency Report (AR), Tab 4, RFP at 1, 7, 109.  The RFP was issued as a small business set‑aside and contemplated a period of performance of one base year and four 1-year option periods.  Id. at 63, 123.  Award was to be made to the offeror whose proposal provided the best value to the government, considering three factors:  organizational experience, past performance, and cost.  Id. at 123.  The RFP informed offerors that organizational experience was more important than past performance.  Id.  The non‑cost factors, when combined, would be significantly more important than cost.  Id. Five offerors submitted proposals in response to the solicitation.  Contracting Officer’s Statement and Memorandum of Law (COS/MOL) at 13.  On October 24, 2019, the Navy notified Agile-Bot that the contract had been awarded to FreeAlliance.  Following a debriefing that concluded on November 4, Agile-Bot filed a protest with our Office on November 8 (docketed as B-418264), challenging the agency’s cost realism adjustment to Agile‑Bot’s proposed direct and indirect rates and the resulting award decision.  Protest (B-418264) at 9-14.  On November 12, Agile-Bot filed a supplemental protest (docketed as B-418264.2), challenging the agency’s evaluation of Agile-Bot’s and FreeAlliance’s technical proposals under the organizational experience factor, and Agile-Bot’s proposal under the past performance factor.[1]  Supp.