Iron Mountain Information Management, LLC (36C10E20Q0090)

B-418797.4 Jun 23, 2021 Jump To FULL REPORT VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Iron Mountain Information Management, LLC, of Boston, Massachusetts, requests that we recommend that it be reimbursed the costs of filing and pursuing its protest against the Department of Veterans Affairs's (VA) issuance of a task order to Sourcecorp BPS Inc. under request for quotations (RFQ) No. 36C10E20Q0090, for records management services. We grant the request in part and deny it in part. View Decision Decision Matter of:  Iron Mountain Information Management, LLC—Costs File:  B-418797.4 Date:  June 23, 2021 Michael Samuels, Esq., Alexandra Barbee-Garrett, Esq., and Daniel Forman, Esq., Crowell & Moring LLP, for the protester. Francis Gainer, Esq., and John Huebl, Esq., Department of Veterans Affairs, for the agency. Mary G. Curcio, Esq., and John Sorrenti, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST 1.  GAO recommends reimbursement of protest costs where, based on the circumstances of the case, we determine that the agency unduly delayed taking corrective action in the face of a clearly meritorious protest; GAO’s willingness to engage in outcome prediction alternative dispute resolution procedures to advise the parties that an issue will likely be sustained also indicates that we will likely view those grounds as meeting the clearly meritorious element of the standard for recommending the reimbursement of protest costs.  2.  GAO recommends reimbursement of protest costs for challenge to best-value determination since that basis of protest is intertwined with clearly meritorious protest grounds. 3.  GAO does not recommend reimbursement of protest costs with regard to protest grounds that are severable from the successful protest grounds. DECISION   Iron Mountain Information Management, LLC, of Boston, Massachusetts, requests that we recommend that it be reimbursed the costs of filing and pursuing its protest against the Department of Veterans Affairs’s (VA) issuance of a task order to Sourcecorp BPS Inc. under request for quotations (RFQ) No. 36C10E20Q0090, for records management services.[1]  We grant the request in part and deny it in part. BACKGROUND The VA issued the RFQ on April 24, 2020, for records management services, including source material storage and disposition.  Agency Report (AR), Tab 5, RFQ at 1.  Competition was limited to vendors that held a relevant General Services Administration (GSA) Federal Supply Service (FSS) contract.  The task order was to be issued on a best-value tradeoff basis considering price and two non-price factors--technical (with subfactors for technical approach, and capability and experience) and past performance.  Id. at 14, 15.  Quotations were submitted by Sourcecorp and Iron Mountain on May 22.  Id. at 7.  As relevant to this protest, in July, after quotations were submitted, but before the task order was issued, Sourcecorp and its corporate assets, except for the relevant FSS contract, were sold by its parent corporation Exela to Retrievex.  Protest at 9; Comments on Agency Report at 4.  Following the submission and evaluation of quotations, the agency issued a task order to Sourcecorp on November 18.  AR, Tab 1, Contracting Officer’s Statement and Memorandum of Law (COS/MOL) at 11. The GSA FSS schedule contract was novated to Retrievex on December 3.  COS/MOL at 15.  The VA learned of the sale on December 14 after receipt of Iron Mountain’s protest.  Agency Resp. to Req.