Innovative Management & Technology Approaches, Inc. (1333BJ19Q00280146 )

B-418823.3,B-418823.4 Jan 08, 2021 Jump To FULL REPORT VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Innovative Management & Technology Approaches, Inc. (IMTAS), of Reston, Virginia, protests the decision by the Department of Commerce, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to establish a blanket purchase agreement (BPA) with, and issue two call orders to, Epsilon, Inc., of Weaverville, North Carolina, under request for quotations (RFQ) No. 1333BJ19Q00280146, issued for support of service desk operations. IMTAS argues that Epsilon's quotation was unacceptable because it included an assumption that took exception to material solicitation requirements; that the agency conducted impermissible and unequal discussions when it allowed Epsilon to remove the assumption from its quotation prior to award; and that the agency unreasonably failed to assess a weakness to Epsilon's quotation. We sustain 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:  Innovative Management & Technology Approaches, Inc. File:  B-418823.3; B-418823.4 Date:  January 8, 2021 Richard J. Webber, Esq., and Travis L. Mullaney, Esq., Arent Fox, LLP, for the protester. James W. Norment, Esq., and Hugh R. Overholt, Esq., Ward and Smith, PA, for Epsilon, Inc., the intervenor. Andrew Squire, Esq., Jennifer Seifert, Esq., and Chieko M. Clarke, Department of Commerce, for the agency. John Sorrenti, Esq., and Christina Sklarew, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST 1.  Protest is sustained where the awardee’s quotation included an assumption that took exception to material requirements in the solicitation and the agency conducted impermissible and unequal discussions only with the awardee to allow it to remove the assumption prior to award. 2.  Protest alleging that the agency unreasonably evaluated awardee’s quotation is denied where the record shows that the evaluation was reasonable. DECISION Innovative Management & Technology Approaches, Inc. (IMTAS), of Reston, Virginia, protests the decision by the Department of Commerce, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to establish a blanket purchase agreement (BPA) with, and issue two call orders to, Epsilon, Inc., of Weaverville, North Carolina, under request for quotations (RFQ) No. 1333BJ19Q00280146, issued for support of service desk operations.  IMTAS argues that Epsilon’s quotation was unacceptable because it included an assumption that took exception to material solicitation requirements; that the agency conducted impermissible and unequal discussions when it allowed Epsilon to remove the assumption from its quotation prior to award; and that the agency unreasonably failed to assess a weakness to Epsilon’s quotation. We sustain the protest. BACKGROUND The agency issued the RFQ as a small business set-aside to vendors holding General Services Administration federal supply schedule (FSS) contracts under Information Technology Schedule 70 pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) subpart 8.4.  Agency Report (AR), Tab B05b, RFQ at 54.[1]  The RFQ sought information technology (IT) support desk services for the agency.  These services included receiving customer contacts, recording or escalating incidents and problems, requesting services or changes involving certain hardware and software, incident and service request intake, first call resolution and escalation, and a variety of other services to help resolve IT issues.  Id. at 5-6.  The RFQ contemplated the establishment of one BPA along with the issuance of two BPA call orders; the BPA and call orders all had concurrent periods of performance of a 1-year or base period with four 1-year option periods.[2]  Id. at 49, 54.  One call order was for service desk support, and the other call order was for advance problem resolution services.  Id. at 5, 54.  The two call orders would be labor-hour contracts; future call orders could be fixed-price, labor-hour, time-and-materials, or any combination of these contract types.  Id. at 51.  Award would be made on a best-value tradeoff basis considering the following four evaluation factors in descending order of importance:  technical approach, management approach, past performance, and price.[3]  Id. at 66.  The non-price factors, when combined, were more important than the price factor.  Id. The agency received quotations from 17 vendors, including IMTAS and Epsilon; only three of the quotations were considered in the final tradeoff analysis.  Contracting Officer’s Statement at 3.  On June 4, 2020, the agency notified IMTAS that the agency had established a BPA with Epsilon.  Id.