1400 Chapman, LLC (6FL0513)

B-418409,B-418409.2,B-418409.3 Apr 15, 2020 Jump To FULL REPORT VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights 1400 Chapman, LLC, of El Paso, Texas, protests the General Services Administration's (GSA) award of a lease to Windward Marina Stuart, LLC, of Aventura, Florida, under request for lease proposals (RLP) No. 6FL0513, for office space for a federal tenant agency. The protester challenges the evaluation of proposals and contends that the agency's discussions were misleading. We deny the protest in part and dismiss the protest in part. View Decision Decision Matter of:  1400 Chapman, LLC File:  B-418409; B-418409.2; B-418409.3 Date:  April 15, 2020 David Lewis for the protester. Seamus Curley, Esq, Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP, for Windward Marina Stuart, LLC, the intervenor. Tammi Snyder-Queen, Esq., and Liana D. Henry, Esq., General Services Administration, for the agency. Heather Weiner, Esq., and Jennifer D. Westfall-McGrail, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST 1.  Protest that the agency conducted misleading discussions is denied where the record reflects that the protester was not misled during discussions, but chose to increase its proposed price based on its own business judgment. 2.  Protest that awardee proposed an inaccurate usable square footage figure to obtain a competitive advantage in the price evaluation is dismissed as factually and legally insufficient where argument is based on unsupported assumptions. DECISION 1400 Chapman, LLC, of El Paso, Texas, protests the General Services Administration’s (GSA) award of a lease to Windward Marina Stuart, LLC, of Aventura, Florida, under request for lease proposals (RLP) No. 6FL0513, for office space for a federal tenant agency.  The protester challenges the evaluation of proposals and contends that the agency’s discussions were misleading. We deny the protest in part and dismiss the protest in part. BACKGROUND GSA is conducting the procurement on behalf of the Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) Air and Marine Facilities Program Management Office (PMO).  Previously, the CBP occupied space at the Meridian Marina & Yacht Club, located at 1400 SW Chapman Way, Palm City Florida, under a lease awarded in November 2017.  Contracting Officer’s Statement (COS) at 1.  That lease, however, was terminated for default in March 2019.  Id.  Due to the default termination, GSA re‑initiated the lease procurement process in March 2019, which involved conducting market research and placing advertisements.[1]  Id.  GSA issued the subject RLP on September 19, 2019, to all parties that had expressed an interest in the procurement.  The RLP provided for the award of a 15-year lease of office space in Florida, for CBP’s Air and Marine Facilities program management office.  The solicitation sought proposals for the lease of 6,000 to 7,075 of American National Standards Institute/Building Owners and Managers Association Office Area square feet (ABOA SF) of contiguous space.  RLP § 1.02.  The RLP required that offerors have an active System for Award Management (SAM) registration.  RLP, amend. 3 § 3.05(H); COS ¶ 19. The RLP advised that award would be made to the offeror that submitted the lowest-priced, technically acceptable lease proposal.  RLP § 4.03(A).  The RLP included a statement of requirements that the offered property must meet.  As relevant here, the offered property was required to have one boat slip/floating boat dock for exclusive use by the government located “on-site or within 5 miles of the offered property.”  RLP, amend. 3 § 1.04(A).  GSA received lease proposals from at least two vendors, 1400 Chapman and Windward Marina.  COS ¶ 27.  After completing its initial evaluation, GSA conducted discussions with the offerors.  With regard to 1400 Chapman’s proposal, the agency identified miscalculations and errors/omissions in two forms submitted with the proposal and notified 1400 Chapman of these issues.  Id. ¶ 23. GSA received timely final proposal revisions from both 1400 Chapman and Windward Marina on November 4, 2019.  Id. ¶ 27.  The agency concluded that both proposals met the RLP requirement for a boat slip/dock onsite or within 5 miles.  1400 Chapman’s final proposal revision (FPR) offered its property at the price of $55.71/rentable square feet (RSF) and $63.78/ABOA SF, for a total annual rental rate of $451,251.  COS ¶ 31; Supp.