PAE National Security Solutions, LLC (RFQ-20-NNCP)

B-419207.6 Nov 19, 2021 Jump To FULL REPORT VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights PAE National Security Solutions, LLC, of Fredericksburg, Virginia, protests the issuance of a task order to Celerety Government Solutions, LLC, d/b/a Xcelerate Solutions, of McLean, Virginia, under request for quotations (RFQ) No. 20-NNCP, issued by the Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), to provide administrative and analysis support services for the agency's National Name Check Program (NNCP). PAE argues that the agency misevaluated quotations and made an unreasonable source selection decision. 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:  PAE National Security Solutions, LLC File:  B-419207.6 Date:  November 19, 2021 Anuj Vohra, Esq., Michael E. Samuels, Esq., William B. O’Reilly, Esq., and Karla V. Perez Chacon, Esq., Crowell & Moring LLP, for the protester. Jonathan T. Williams, Esq., Kevin T. Barnett, Esq., Samuel S. Finnerty, Esq., and Meghan F. Leemon, Esq., Piliero Mazza PLLC, for Celerety Government Solutions, LLC, d/b/a Xcelerate Solutions, an intervenor. Michael P. Giordano, Esq., Marcela A. Liddick, Esq., and Catherine C. Chen, Esq., Department of Justice, for the agency. Scott H. Riback, Esq., and Tania Calhoun, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Protest challenging agency’s evaluation of quotations is denied where record shows that agency’s evaluation was reasonable and consistent with the terms of the solicitation and applicable statutes and regulations. DECISION PAE National Security Solutions, LLC, of Fredericksburg, Virginia, protests the issuance of a task order to Celerety Government Solutions, LLC, d/b/a Xcelerate Solutions, of McLean, Virginia, under request for quotations (RFQ) No. 20-NNCP, issued by the Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), to provide administrative and analysis support services for the agency’s National Name Check Program (NNCP).[1]  PAE argues that the agency misevaluated quotations and made an unreasonable source selection decision. We deny the protest. BACKGROUND This is the third occasion that the issuance of a task order in connection with this solicitation has been protested.  In September 2020, the agency issued a task order to Xcelerate and PAE protested that award decision.  The agency elected to take corrective action shortly after PAE filed with our Office, and we dismissed PAE’s protest as academic.  PAE National Security Solutions, LLC, B-419207, Oct. 26, 2020 (unpublished decision).  Thereafter, in January 2021, the agency again issued a task order to Xcelerate and PAE again protested that selection decision.  We sustained certain of PAE’s allegations.  PAE National Security Solutions, LLC, B-419207.2, et al., May 19, 2021, 2021 CPD ¶ 205.  Specifically, we concluded that, during its evaluation, the agency had erroneously credited Xcelerate with having experience performing “continuous vetting services,” and also credited its program manager for having previous experience transitioning contracts for the FBI, despite the fact that those considerations were not contemplated under the solicitation’s evaluation criteria.  We also found that the agency had evaluated the quotations disparately in the areas of staff size and staff retention rates.  In particular, the record showed that the agency had assigned a weakness to PAE--but not to Xcelerate--for an ambiguity in its quotation relating to its offered staff size, even though the record showed that there were ambiguities in both quotations relating to the staff size offered by each firm.  The record also showed that the agency had assigned a significant strength to Xcelerate’s quotation for a [deleted] percent retention rate that the firm had not actually proposed, while assigning PAE only a strength for its offer of lower, but definitized, retention rates.  We recommended that the agency either reevaluate quotations in light of the conclusions reached in our prior decision (or, alternatively, amend the solicitation to clarify its requirements, solicit, obtain and evaluate revised quotations) and make a new source selection decision.  In response to that decision, the agency elected to reevaluate the quotations and make a new source selection decision without revising its solicitation or obtaining revised quotations.  The agency again selected Xcelerate for issuance of the task order, and PAE filed the current protest in the wake of the agency’s latest source selection decision.  By way of background, the RFQ contemplates the award, on a best-value tradeoff basis, of a fixed-price task order to perform the solicited services for a base year and four 1-year option periods.  Firms were advised that quota...