NIKA Technologies, Inc. (W912DY-16-R-0104)

B-418563 Jun 05, 2020 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights NIKA Technologies, Inc., of Rockville, Maryland, protests the elimination of its proposal from consideration for award under request for proposals (RFP) No. W912DY-16-R-0104, issued by the Department of the Army, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, for specialized medical operations and maintenance services. NIKA argues that the agency misevaluated its proposal and unreasonably did not award it a contract. 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:  NIKA Technologies, Inc. File:  B-418563 Date:  June 5, 2020 Anuj Vohra, Esq., David B. Robbins, Esq., James G. Peyster, Esq., and Tyler S. Brown, Esq., Crowell & Moring, LLP, for the protester. Adam K. Lasky, Esq., Oles Morrison, Rinker & Baker, LLP, for J&J Maintenance, Inc. dba J&J Worldwide Service, an intervenor. Tamar Gerhart, Esq., Department of the Army, for the agency. Scott H. Riback, Esq., and Tania Calhoun, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Protest challenging agency’s evaluation of protester’s proposal is denied where record shows that agency’s evaluation was reasonable and consistent with the terms of the solicitation and applicable statutes and regulations. DECISION NIKA Technologies, Inc., of Rockville, Maryland, protests the elimination of its proposal from consideration for award under request for proposals (RFP) No. W912DY-16-R-0104, issued by the Department of the Army, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, for specialized medical operations and maintenance services.  NIKA argues that the agency misevaluated its proposal and unreasonably did not award it a contract. We deny the protest. BACKGROUND This acquisition is referred to overall as the Operations and Maintenance Engineering Enhancement VI program.  The solicitation contemplates the award of multiple indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contracts for a base period of 24 months and three 12-month option periods.  The RFP was issued on an unrestricted basis but reserved a portion of the awards for small businesses.  RFP at 3.  The RFP provided that the agency would make award to all those firms submitting proposals that were determined “qualifying” based on an evaluation of non-price considerations (detailed below).  RFP at 180.  Price would not be an evaluation consideration for award of the contracts; instead, price would be considered after award during subsequent competitions for the issuance of task orders under the contracts.  Id.  The cumulative ceiling value for all contracts is $990 million, and these contracts will be to provide operations and maintenance services to support the Army Medical Command, the Air Force Medical Support Agency, the U.S. Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, and the Defense Health Agency.  RFP at 3.  The services at issue are to provide facility maintenance and specialized medical facilities operations and maintenance services for the Department of Defense’s medical facility infrastructure. The solicitation provided that proposals would be evaluated using four non-price factors:  corporate experience, past performance, technical and management approach, and small business participation.  Under the corporate experience, technical and management approach, and small business participation factors, the agency would evaluate proposals on a pass/fail basis and assign adjectival ratings of acceptable or unacceptable.  RFP at 181, 183, 185.  For the past performance factor, the offerors’ past performance examples were to be assigned relevancy ratings of either relevant or not relevant, and each firm’s overall past performance also would be assigned a performance confidence adjectival rating of satisfactory confidence, neutral confidence (where a firm had no recent or relevant past performance), or no confidence.  RFP at 181-182.