Inmarsat Government, Inc. (HC101320R0001)

B-419583,B-419583.2 May 21, 2021 Jump To FULL REPORT VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Inmarsat Government, Inc., of Reston, Virginia, protests the terms of request for proposals (RFP) No. HC1013-20-R-0001, which was issued by the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) to procure worldwide commercial broadband satellite services for the Department of the Navy, Military Sealift Command. This procurement is known as the Commercial Satellite Services Contract, or CSSC II, and is a follow-on contract to a similar contract, CSSC I, on which Inmarsat is the incumbent contractor. Inmarsat contends that the agency has failed to remediate the harm resulting from DISA's inadvertent release of Inmarsat's CSSC I pricing in the draft RFP for CSSC II. Inmarsat also asserts that the agency's decision to exclude past performance from the evaluation factors for this solicitation was unreasonable. We sustain the protest in part and deny the remainder. 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:  Inmarsat Government, Inc. File:  B-419583; B-419583.2 Date:  May 21, 2021 Paul R. Hurst, Esq, Caitlin Conroy, Esq., Fred Geldon, Esq., and John William Toth, Esq., Steptoe & Johnson LLP, for the protester. Anthony J. Balestreri, Esq., Defense Information Systems Agency, for the agency. Stephanie B. Magnell, Esq., and Evan C. Williams, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST 1.  Protest that the agency failed to sufficiently mitigate the competitive harm from the inadvertent release of the protester’s incumbent pricing for its non-commercial solution is sustained, where the released pricing was detailed and recent, and the agency’s remedial efforts were minimal. 2.  Protest that the agency failed to sufficiently mitigate the harm caused by the release of pricing for commercial satellite bandwidth transmission services is denied, as the inadvertently released pricing was limited in scope and not recent.  3.  Protest that the agency unreasonably decided not to include past performance as an evaluation factor in the solicitation is denied, where the protester has not shown that the agency’s decision was unreasonable. DECISION   Inmarsat Government, Inc., of Reston, Virginia, protests the terms of request for proposals (RFP) No. HC1013-20-R-0001, which was issued by the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) to procure worldwide commercial broadband satellite services for the Department of the Navy, Military Sealift Command.  This procurement is known as the Commercial Satellite Services Contract, or CSSC II, and is a follow-on contract to a similar contract, CSSC I, on which Inmarsat is the incumbent contractor.  Inmarsat contends that the agency has failed to remediate the harm resulting from DISA’s inadvertent release of Inmarsat’s CSSC I pricing in the draft RFP for CSSC II.  Inmarsat also asserts that the agency’s decision to exclude past performance from the evaluation factors for this solicitation was unreasonable.  We sustain the protest in part and deny the remainder. BACKGROUND On July 22, 2016, DISA awarded CSSC I, a 5-year indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract to Inmarsat after a 2015 protest with our Office.[1]  Through CSSC I and, subsequently CSSC II, the agency intends to acquire “worldwide commercial telecommunications services, to include satellite capacity in C, Ku, Ka, and/or X-band, for mobile and fixed satellite transceivers on manned and unmanned maritime, airborne, and ground platforms, as well as commercial teleport (CT) services, backhaul connectivity, monitoring and control, and operations.”[2]  RFP at 8.[3]  The infrastructure used by the CSSC includes mobile and fixed satellite transceivers on maritime, airborne and ground platforms, as well as CT services, backhaul connectivity, operations, monitoring, and control.  Id. This protest involves the inadvertent disclosure of pricing information contained in the draft RFP.  By way of background, on the predecessor CSSC I contract Inmarsat provides both bandwidth and non-bandwidth services under a variety of detailed contract line item numbers (CLINs).  In the CSSC II acquisition, the agency is again purchasing bandwidth and non-bandwidth services under a largely identical CLIN structure. On September 21, 2020, DISA posted a pre-solicitation announcement for the CSSC II procurement to the federal procurement website at beta.SAM.gov.  AR, Tab 14, Federal Business Opportunities Timestamp History at 2, 4.  This pre-solicitation announcement included the draft solicitation.  Id.