Innovative Quality Solutions, LLC (6913G620Q300058)

B-419009.2 Dec 17, 2020 Jump To FULL REPORT VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Innovative Quality Solutions, LLC (IQS), of Grandview, Missouri, challenges the corrective action taken by the Department of Transportation under request for quotations (RFQ) No. 6913G620Q300058, for two railway car spotters. IQS argues that the agency unreasonably determined that IQS's quotation was nonresponsive, and that the agency should have made award to IQS as the only remaining eligible small business rather than cancel the set-aside decision to pursue a full and open competition as part of corrective action. 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 version has been approved for public release without any redactions. Decision Matter of:  Innovative Quality Solutions, LLC File:  B-419009.2 Date:  December 17, 2020 Shane J. McCall, Esq., Christopher S. Coleman, Esq., Nicole D. Pottroff, Esq., and Quinten R. Fisher, Esq., Koprince Law, LLC, for the protester. Felecia R. McBride, Esq., Department of Transportation, for the agency. John Sorrenti, Esq., and Christina Sklarew, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Protest that the agency improperly decided to pursue an unrestricted full and open competition after taking corrective action on a procurement previously set aside for small businesses is denied where the record shows that the agency reasonably found that the protester’s quotation was nonresponsive and therefore there were no small businesses eligible for award. DECISION   Innovative Quality Solutions, LLC (IQS), of Grandview, Missouri, challenges the corrective action taken by the Department of Transportation under request for quotations (RFQ) No. 6913G620Q300058, for two railway car spotters.  IQS argues that the agency unreasonably determined that IQS’s quotation was nonresponsive, and that the agency should have made award to IQS as the only remaining eligible small business rather than cancel the set-aside decision to pursue a full and open competition as part of corrective action. We deny the protest. BACKGROUND The agency issued the RFQ under Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) part 12, acquisition of commercial items, and FAR subpart 13.5, simplified acquisition procedures, as a small business set-aside for two railway car spotters for the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.  Agency Report (AR), Tab A, RFQ at 1.  The RFQ contemplated award of a single, fixed-price purchase order.  Id.  Award would be made to the vendor that submitted the lowest price “along with a technical narrative that lays out an acceptable technical understanding and plan for meeting the [r]ailway [c]ar [s]potters configuration and delivery requirements” of the RFQ.  Id. at 41.  The RFQ also required that all vendors be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) in order to receive award.  Id. at 2. The agency received quotations from two vendors, IQS and Nordco, Inc., doing business as Shuttlewagon, Inc.  As relevant to this protest, IQS submitted its quotation using the name for its product line of railway cars, BOSS Railcar Movers (BOSS).  AR, Tab C, BOSS Quotation Part 2.[1]  The cover page of the quotation had a “BOSS Railcar Movers” logo, and a cover letter to the quotation listed “BOSS Railcar Movers” on its letterhead.  Id. at 2.  The cover letter stated “[o]n behalf of BOSS Railcar Movers, I would like to thank you for the opportunity to serve our Navy,” and was signed by the executive vice president/general manager (EVP/GM) of BOSS.[2]  Id.  The quotation was for the BOSS ZX mobile railcar mover, and included specifications and pictures of that type of railcar; in the pictures, the name “BOSS” was printed on the railcar.  See id. at 2-6, 8-9.  Throughout the quotation, all references were to a BOSS railcar.  See generally id.  The only mention of IQS in the quotation was its inclusion on two different technical drawings that showed modifications that had been made to the BOSS ZX railcar.  Id.