Eskanos Enterprises (9CO2518)

B-419391 Feb 01, 2021 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Eskanos Enterprises, a women-owned small business of Colorado Springs, Colorado, protests the rejection of its proposal under request for lease proposals (RLP) No. 9CO2518, issued by the General Services Administration (GSA), for a 16-year lease of office and related space in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The protester argues that the agency improperly determined that its proposal was unacceptable. We deny the protest. View Decision Decision Matter of:  Eskanos Enterprises File:  B-419391 Date:  February 1, 2021 Barry Eskanos for the protester. Mikhail Petersen, Esq., General Services Administration, for the agency. Hannah G. Barnes, Esq., and Christina Sklarew, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Protest that the agency improperly rejected lease proposal is denied where the record shows that the agency’s evaluation was reasonable and consistent with the terms of the solicitation.  DECISION   Eskanos Enterprises, a women-owned small business of Colorado Springs, Colorado, protests the rejection of its proposal under request for lease proposals (RLP) No. 9CO2518, issued by the General Services Administration (GSA), for a 16-year lease of office and related space in Colorado Springs, Colorado.  The protester argues that the agency improperly determined that its proposal was unacceptable. We deny the protest. BACKGROUND Prior to issuing the RLP, on June 5, 2020, GSA posted an advertisement on the System for Award Management (SAM) seeking expressions of interest for a lease of office space in a delineated area within Colorado Springs, Colorado, on behalf of the Air Force Space Command.  Agency Report (AR), Exh. 1, Advertisement Posted in SAM at 3-4.  GSA received 13 responses, 6 of which fell outside of the delineated area and were consequently excluded from further participation in the procurement process.  Contracting Officer’s Statement (COS) at 2.  The remaining responses included the one submitted by Eskanos. On July 14, 2020, GSA and Air Force Space Command representatives visited the seven remaining sites, including the protester’s site.  Id.  Based on that site survey, the GSA contracting officer chose to issue the RLP to only some of the firms, either because the other potential offerors chose not to compete, or because the agency found they were unable to meet the requirements as outlined in the RLP.  Id.  The contracting officer determined that the protester’s site could not meet the RLP requirements. However, in response to a phone call the protester initiated with the agency on August 3, the agency provided “an informational copy” of the RLP to the protester on August 12.[1]  Id. at 3-4. With this copy, the agency included a previously transmitted email that informed the protester its site did not meet the solicitation requirements for a professional setting or campus-like atmosphere.  COS at 4; AR, Exh. 5, Email Transmission of RLP and Initial Declination Letter at 4.  On August 12, GSA also issued the RLP to the remaining offerors whose sites the contracting officer believed could meet the solicitation requirements.  The RLP provided for the award of a 10-year lease of office space within the delineated area in Colorado Springs.[2]  AR, Exh. 6, RLP § 1.02.  GSA sought to lease a minimum of 107,500 to a maximum of 113,000 American National Standards Institute/Building Owners and Managers Association Office Area square feet (ABOA SF) of contiguous space for use by the tenant agency.[3]  Id.; COS at 2.  The solicitation advised that the lease would be issued to the offeror that submitted the lowest-priced, technically acceptable lease proposal.  RLP § 4.03.  As relevant here, the RLP contained the following requirements for the leased space: Space shall be located 1) in an office, research, technology, or business park that is modern in design with a campus-like atmosphere; or, 2) on an attractively landscaped site containing one or more modern office Buildings that are professional and prestigious in appearance with the surrounding development well maintained and in consonance with a professional image. RLP § 1.05 In addition, the RLP advised offerors of certain documents and submissions required by the solicitation for a proposal to be considered acceptable for award.  For example, the solicitation required a “test fit layout” of the offeror’s site so that the agency could determine if the offered space would accommodate the tenant agency’s requirements.  RLP § 2.01.  The solicitation also required “[s]atisfactory evidence of at least a conditional commitment of funds,” as well as “[e]vidence of ownership or control of [the] [b]uilding or site” in the form of either the deed to the property, lease documentation, or “a fully executed copy of the written agreement [between the owner of the property and the offeror] with its...