Centerra Integrated Facilities Services, LLC (RFO-4600)

B-418628 Apr 23, 2020 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Centerra Integrated Facilities Services, LLC, of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, protests the award of a contract to Jones Lang LaSalle Americas, Inc., of Washington, D.C., under request for offers (RFO) No. 4600, which was issued by the Department of Energy, Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), for integrated facilities management services. Centerra challenges the agency's evaluation of its proposal under the RFO's non-price factors. We dismiss the protest as untimely because it was filed more than 10 days after the protester learned of its bases of protest when the agency provided a non-required debriefing. View Decision DOCUMENT FOR PUBLIC RELEASE The decision issued on the date below was subject to a GAO Protective Order. This version has been approved for public release.   Decision Matter of:  Centerra Integrated Facilities Services, LLC File:  B-418628 Date:  April 23, 2020 Daniel J. Strouse, Esq., David S. Cohen, Esq., Laurel A. Hockey, Esq., Joshua D. Schnell, Esq., and John J. O’Brien, Esq., Cordatis LLP, for the protester. Seamus Curley, Esq., and Chelsea L. Goulet, Esq., Stroock, Stroock & Lavan LLP, for Jones Lang LaSalle Americas, Inc., the intervenor. Nicholas M. Bidwell, Esq., Stephanie J. Villalta, Esq., Donna A. Oden-Orr, Esq., and Jon Wright, Esq., Department of Energy, for the agency. Evan D. Wesser, Esq., and Edward Goldstein, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Protest challenging an award made by the Bonneville Power Administration filed more than 10 days after the protester learned of its bases of protest when the agency provided a non-required written debriefing is dismissed as untimely; the agency’s offer to address the protester’s questions after providing the debriefing did not toll the timeliness requirements for protest allegations based on the initially provided non-required written debriefing. DECISION   Centerra Integrated Facilities Services, LLC, of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, protests the award of a contract to Jones Lang LaSalle Americas, Inc., of Washington, D.C., under request for offers (RFO) No. 4600, which was issued by the Department of Energy, Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), for integrated facilities management services.  Centerra challenges the agency’s evaluation of its proposal under the RFO’s non-price factors. We dismiss the protest as untimely because it was filed more than 10 days after the protester learned of its bases of protest when the agency provided a non-required debriefing. BACKGROUND BPA is a federal entity within the Department of Energy, and was created by the Bonneville Project Act of 1937 to market hydroelectric power generated by a series of dams along the Columbia River in Oregon and Washington.  16 U.S.C. §§ 832-832m.  Unlike most executive branch agencies, BPA’s contracting activities are not governed by the competition requirements of the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949, as amended by the Competition in Contracting Act of 1984.  40 U.S.C. § 113(e)(18).  Rather, the Bonneville Project Act provides that BPA’s contracting authority is subject only to the provisions of that statute.  16 U.S.C. § 832a(f); see also Gonzales Consulting Servs., Inc., B-291642.2, July 16, 2003, 2003 CPD ¶ 128 at 2 n.1.  BPA is similarly not subject to the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), but, rather, is governed by BPA’s own acquisition policy, the Bonneville Purchasing Instructions (BPI), that implement the procurement authority granted by its organic statute.[1]  Gonzales Consulting Sevs., supra. BPA owns and operates an estimated 2.7 million square feet of facilities valued at over $1.15 billion across Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, and California.  These facilities include over 1,000 buildings at more than 400 sites, including critical infrastructure (such as control centers and substation control houses), maintenance shops, administrative offices, and warehouses.  Additionally, BPA is responsible for its GSA-owned headquarters building, corporate commercially leased spaces, and various non-building assets (such as sewer systems, fences, and roads).  Historically, BPA has met its facility-related obligations through the administration of over a hundred contracts.  Req. for Dismissal, exh. A.1, RFO at 3.[2] Through this procurement, however, BPA sought to establish a strategic alliance with a single qualified facilities management contractor.  Id.  Specifically, the RFO, which was issued on June 28, 2019, and subsequently amended three times, contemplated the award of a single indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract with a fixed-price base operations and maintenance component, and time-and-materials above-base services and construction components.  Id. at 4.