APC Construction, LLC (W9127818R0003)

B-419771 Jul 13, 2021 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights APC Construction, LLC, a small business of Harvey, Louisiana, protests its exclusion from consideration for award under request for proposals (RFP) No. W9127818R0003, a two-phase design-build solicitation issued by the Department of the Army, Corps of Engineers (Corps), for design, repair, and construction support for military construction projects in the south region of the Corps’s Mobile District. The protester contends that the Corps could not exclude APC from phase two of the competition because the protester’s proposal was found to be acceptable under phase one. 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:  APC Construction, LLC File:  B-419771 Date:  July 13, 2021 Douglas L. Patin, Esq., Patrick R. Quigley, Esq., and Lisa A. Markman, Esq., Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP, for the protester. Kristine M. Knodel, Esq., Department of the Army, for the agency. Samantha Lee, Esq., and Peter H. Tran, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Protest of an agency’s evaluation of the protester’s phase one proposal and the agency’s decision to exclude the protester from phase two is denied where the agency’s evaluation was reasonable, and in accordance with the solicitation’s evaluation criteria and the design-build procedures of Federal Acquisition Regulation subpart 36.3. DECISION   APC Construction, LLC, a small business of Harvey, Louisiana, protests its exclusion from consideration for award under request for proposals (RFP) No. W9127818R0003, a two-phase design-build solicitation issued by the Department of the Army, Corps of Engineers (Corps), for design, repair, and construction support for military construction projects in the south region of the Corps’s Mobile District.  The protester contends that the Corps could not exclude APC from phase two of the competition because the protester’s proposal was found to be acceptable under phase one. We deny the protest. BACKGROUND The Corps issued the RFP as a total small-business set-aside on May 21, 2020, under the two-phase design-build procedures of Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) subpart 36.3.  Contracting Officer’s Statement (COS) at 1, 3.  The RFP contemplated award of indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity (IDIQ), multiple-award task order contracts (MATOCs) for 5-year terms to the offerors whose proposals were determined to represent the overall best value to the government, using a tradeoff process.[1]  Agency Report (AR), Tab 5, RFP at 46.[2]  Task orders would be competed among the IDIQ contract holders, with the total value up to $200 million for the entire pool of contracts.  Id., Statement of Work § 1.2 at 341. Under phase one of the competition, offerors were required to submit proposals to address the following evaluation factors, listed in descending order of importance:  (1) past performance information of the prime contractor; (2) overall management approach; and (3) quality control approach.  RFP at 18.  The solicitation notified offerors that under this phase, pricing information was not required, nor would it be considered.  Id. at 17 (“In Phase One, price is not a submission requirement.”).  The agency advised that it intended to select up to 10 offerors with the most highly rated phase one proposals to participate in phase two.  Id. The agency received 46 phase one proposals, including one submitted by APC.  AR, Tab 11, Phase One Down Select Document at 1, 3.  APC was rated satisfactory confidence for past performance; acceptable for overall management approach; and good for quality control approach.  Id. at 60‑62, 125, 140.  Based on the agency’s evaluation, the source selection authority ranked APC as 21 of the 46 offerors.  Id. at 150.  The source selection authority selected only the top eight offerors to advance to phase two.  Id.