Huffman Building P, LLC (RLP-7AK2257)

B-418752 Aug 21, 2020 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Huffman Building P, LLC (Huffman), a small business of Anchorage, Alaska, protests the award of a lease for warehouse space to Winco Anchorage Investors I, LP (Winco), of Hidden Hills, California, by the General Services Administration (GSA), under request for lease proposals (RLP) No. 7AK2257. The protester challenges the agency's price evaluation and the contracting officer's affirmative determination of responsibility. 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:  Huffman Building P, LLC File:  B-418752 Date:  August 21, 2020 Rebecca E. Lipson, Esq., and Donald W. McClintock, Esq., Ashburn & Mason, PC, for the protester. Michael Jungreis, Esq., Reeves Amodio, LLC, for Winco Anchorage Investors I, LP, the intervenor. M. Leah Wright, Esq., General Services Administration, for the agency. Katherine I. Riback, Esq., and Evan C. Williams, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST 1.  Protest that agency performed improper present value price evaluation is denied where the agency’s present value price evaluation was reasonable and consistent with the terms of the solicitation. 2.  Protest challenging contracting officer’s affirmative responsibility determination is denied where protester’s allegations do not establish that the contracting officer failed to consider available relevant information when making responsibility determination. DECISION   Huffman Building P, LLC (Huffman), a small business of Anchorage, Alaska, protests the award of a lease for warehouse space to Winco Anchorage Investors I, LP (Winco), of Hidden Hills, California, by the General Services Administration (GSA), under request for lease proposals (RLP) No. 7AK2257.  The protester challenges the agency’s price evaluation and the contracting officer’s affirmative determination of responsibility. We deny the protest. BACKGROUND The RLP, issued on August 16, 2019, provided for the award of a 20-year lease of warehouse space in Anchorage, Alaska.[1]  Agency Report (AR), Tab 1, RLP at 12, 38; Contracting Officer’s Statement (COS) at 4.  The lease anticipates serving two divisions of the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the Alaska Science Center, and the Alaska Volcano Observatory.  RLP at 78.  GSA was seeking to lease between 14,390 to 15,110 of American National Standards Institute/Building Owners and Managers Association Office Area square feet (ABOA SF)[2] of contiguous space in a warehouse type building.  Id. at 12.  The RLP informed offerors that the lease would be issued to the offeror that submitted the lowest-priced, technically acceptable lease proposal.  Id. at 31. The solicitation advised offerors that the agency would determine the lowest price by conducting a present value price evaluation.  Id. at 32.  As relevant here, the RLP provided that certain costs would be added to the gross present value cost, including “[t]he cost of relocation of furniture, telecommunications, replications costs, and other move-related costs, if applicable.”  Id. at 32.  The RLP also included a list of requirements to be submitted with an offer, including the following regarding zoning: Evidence that the Property is zoned in compliance with local zoning laws, including evidence of variances, if any, approved by the proper local authority, or the Offeror’s plan and schedule to obtain all necessary zoning approvals prior to performance if the same have not been received at the time of submission of offers. Id. at 27.  GSA received technically acceptable lease proposals from Huffman and Winco.  COS at 3.  After conducting the present value price evaluation, the agency found that Winco’s evaluated price was $12.56 per ABOA square foot, and Huffman’s evaluated price was $13.11 per ABOA square foot.  AR, Tab 25, Winco Present Value Analysis at 37; Tab 24, Huffman Present Value Analysis at 41.  As Winco submitted the lowest-priced, technically acceptable proposal, the agency awarded it the lease.  This protest followed. DISCUSSION Huffman, the incumbent, argues that the agency failed to conduct a reasonable present value evaluation because the agency failed to consider the costs of relocation, which Huffman asserts was required by the RLP.  Protest at 2-3.  The protester also contends that the agency’s affirmative responsibility determination is unreasonable because the property proposed by Winco does not meet the solicitation’s requirement that the property be “zoned in compliance with local zoning laws.”  Id.