SupplyCore, Inc. (SPE8E3-19-R-0001)

B-418337.2,B-418337.3 Sep 02, 2021 Jump To FULL REPORT VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights SupplyCore, Inc., of Rockford, Illinois, protests the award of two contracts under request for proposals (RFP) No. SPE8E3-19-R-0001, issued by the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), for the agency's maintenance, repair, and operations (MRO) Tailored Logistics Support Prime Vendor (TLS PV) program for the Pacific region. SupplyCore challenges awards to Noble Supply & Logistics, of Rockland, Massachusetts and PAE-IMK International, LLC, of Arlington, Virginia. SupplyCore argues that both award decisions were flawed because the agency failed to conduct meaningful price discussions with it. We deny the protests. 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:  SupplyCore, Inc. File:  B-418337.2; B-418337.3 Date:  September 2, 2021 William E. Hughes, Esq., Julia Banegas, Esq., and Maya A. Desai, Esq., Husch Blackwell LLP, for the protester. Gary J. Campbell, Esq., G. Matthew Koehl, Esq., and Lidiya Kurin, Esq., Womble Bond Dickinson (US) LLP, for Noble Supply & Logistics, and David Z. Bodenheimer, Esq., Andrew Victor, Esq., and Samuel Van Kopp, Esq., Nichols Liu LLP, for PAE-IMK International, LLC , the intervenors. Andrew T. McGuire, Esq., Defense Logistics Agency, for the agency. Jacob M. Talcott, Esq., and Jennifer D. Westfall-McGrail, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Protests challenging adequacy of agency’s discussions are denied where agency informed protester on three separate occasions to improve its price, and identified the specific areas in need of improvement. DECISION SupplyCore, Inc., of Rockford, Illinois, protests the award of two contracts under request for proposals (RFP) No. SPE8E3-19-R-0001, issued by the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), for the agency’s maintenance, repair, and operations (MRO) Tailored Logistics Support Prime Vendor (TLS PV) program for the Pacific region.  SupplyCore challenges awards to Noble Supply & Logistics, of Rockland, Massachusetts and PAE-IMK International, LLC, of Arlington, Virginia.  SupplyCore argues that both award decisions were flawed because the agency failed to conduct meaningful price discussions with it. We deny the protests. BACKGROUND On August 27, 2019, DLA Troop Support issued the RFP under the agency’s MRO TLS PV program for the Pacific region.  Agency Report (AR) at 2.  The MRO TLS PV program consists of indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contracts awarded by zone.  Id.  The awardees are responsible for supplying a wide range of commercial, maintenance, repair, and operations supplies and incidental services to authorized DLA customers in their respective zones.[1]  Id.  The RFP divided the Pacific region into two zones:  zone one consists of Japan, Okinawa, Singapore, Diego Garcia, the Philippines, and Thailand.  AR, Tab 1, RFP attach. A at 6.  Zone two consists of the Republic of Korea (South Korea).  Id.  The zone one award was made to Noble and the zone two award was made to PAE-IMK. The RFP contemplated award of IDIQ contracts for a base period of two years and up to two option periods of eighteen months.  Id. at 4.  The solicitation provided for the evaluation of proposals based on price and two non-price factors, technical merit and past performance confidence assessment, with the first non-price factor more important than the second.  Id. at 83.  The solicitation anticipated award on a best-value tradeoff basis with the non-price factors, when combined, considered significantly more important than price.  Id. at 84. The closing date for receipt of proposals, as amended, was December 10, 2019.  AR, Tab 6, amend. 0005 at 1. The technical merit factor consisted of the following three equally-weighted subfactors: product sourcing, distribution and delivery, and customer support.  RFP attach.