CMSoft, Inc. (AF18A-T004)

B-419370 Jan 26, 2021 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights CMSoft, Inc., a small business located in Palo Alto, California, protests the rejection of its proposal by the Department of the Air Force under the Department of Defense's (DOD) Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program broad agency announcement (BAA) 18A, topic number AF18A-T004, which sought multi-physics models for parachute deployment and braking. The protester asserts that the agency unreasonably calculated the percentage of work proposed for CMSoft's teaming partner, resulting in CMSoft's proposal being found ineligible to proceed to the next phase. We deny the protest View Decision Decision Matter of:  CMSoft, Inc. File:  B-419370 Date:  January 26, 2021 Francoise Farhat for the protester. Colonel Patricia S. Wiegman-Lenz, Kyle E. Gilbertson, Esq., Tiffany R. Schwartz, Esq., and Max V. Kidalov, Esq., Department of the Air Force, for the agency. Alexander O. Levine, Esq., and Jennifer D. Westfall-McGrail, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Protest challenging agency’s method for calculating required work allocation is denied where the method used was reasonable and consistent with the proposal submission instructions, applicable guidance documents, and statutory requirements. DECISION CMSoft, Inc., a small business located in Palo Alto, California, protests the rejection of its proposal by the Department of the Air Force under the Department of Defense’s (DOD) Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program broad agency announcement (BAA) 18A, topic number AF18A-T004, which sought multi-physics models for parachute deployment and braking.  The protester asserts that the agency unreasonably calculated the percentage of work proposed for CMSoft’s teaming partner, resulting in CMSoft’s proposal being found ineligible to proceed to the next phase. We deny the protest BACKGROUND The STTR program is a government-funded program that solicits proposals, in three phases, from domestic small business concerns to engage in federal research/research and development (R/R&D).  In phase one (project feasibility), the agency evaluates the scientific, technical and commercial merit of the ideas submitted.  Agency Report (AR), Tab 1, Contracting Officer’s Statement (COS) at 2.  In phase two (technology development), major research and development is funded to develop projects into technology to support the warfighter.  Id. at 3.  In phase three (commercialization), small businesses are expected to obtain non-STTR government or private funding to transition phase two technologies into a product or service for the government and commercial marketplace.  Id.  Agencies use the STTR program to award contracts or grants to small business concerns that are participating in cooperative research and development.  See 15 U.S.C. § 638(e)(6).  “Cooperative research and development” is defined as “research or research and development conducted jointly by a small business concern and a research institution in which not less than 40 percent of the work is performed by the small business concern, and not less than 30 percent of the work is performed by the research institution.”  15 U.S.C. § 638(e)(7).  This 30 percent work allocation requirement is also included in section 6(a)(2) of the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR)/STTR Policy Directive. The BAA included a requirement, at section 4.2(b), implementing this work allocation: A minimum of 40 [percent] of each STTR project must be carried out by the small business concern and a minimum of 30 [percent] of the effort performed by the research institution. . . . The percentage of work is usually measured by both direct and indirect costs, although proposers planning to subcontract a significant fraction of their work should verify how it will be measured with their Component Contracting Officer during contract negotiations. AR, Tab 3, BAA at 12. (emphasis in original).  On November 29, 2017, DOD issued the BAA to solicit STTR proposals; included in the BAA were instructions for the preparation of phase one proposals.  COS at 3.  The instructions included seventeen topic areas for research and development proposal submissions.  As relevant here, topic AF-18A-T004 related to multi-physics models for parachute deployment and braking, and sought the development of efficient methods of modeling and predicting the behavior of thin, aeroelastic surfaces such as parachutes and their effect on bodies of interest.  AR, Tab 4, Phase One Instructions at 13.  The phase one instructions also required the involvement of a research institution and stated that the “STTR offeror’s involvement must equate to not less than 40 percent of the overall effort and the research institution[’]s must equate to not less than 30 percent.”  Id.