CSR Enterprises, Inc. (1202SC21Q0001)

B-419853,B-419853.8 Aug 19, 2021 Jump To FULL REPORT VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights CSR Enterprises, Inc., of Dallas, Oregon, a small business, protests the establishment of blanket purchase agreements (BPA) with multiple other firms under request for quotations (RFQ) No. 1202SC21Q0001, issued by the Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, for wildland firefighter services. CSR contends that its quotation was misevaluated as "no go" under the RFQ's quote acceptability factor, that the agency evaluated vendors unequally under that factor, and that the price evaluation failed to assess price realism as the RFQ required. We deny the protest. View Decision Decision Matter of:  CSR Enterprises, Inc. File:  B-419853; B-419853.8 Date:  August 19, 2021 Penny Cox, CSR Enterprises, Inc., the protester. Azine Farzami, Esq., Adam Humphries, Esq., and Elin M. Dugan, Esq., Department of Agriculture, for the agency. Paul N. Wengert, Esq., and Tania Calhoun, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Protest that agency misevaluated protester’s key personnel as unacceptable due to the omission of documentation of key personnel qualifications is denied where the evaluation was reasonable and consistent with the solicitation.  DECISION CSR Enterprises, Inc., of Dallas, Oregon, a small business, protests the establishment of blanket purchase agreements (BPA) with multiple other firms under request for quotations (RFQ) No. 1202SC21Q0001, issued by the Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, for wildland firefighter services.  CSR contends that its quotation was misevaluated as “no go” under the RFQ’s quote acceptability factor, that the agency evaluated vendors unequally under that factor, and that the price evaluation failed to assess price realism as the RFQ required.  We deny the protest.  BACKGROUND On January 27, 2021, Agriculture issued the RFQ to procure Type 2 wildland firefighter crews for 34 host unit coordinate centers (HUCC) throughout the United States.[1]  Agency Report (AR) Tab 7, Conformed RFQ at 1, 4-6.[2]  The RFQ contemplated the establishment of multiple fixed-price BPAs to be performed over 5‑year agreement periods.  Id. at 5, 27-28.  The Forest Service would establish enough BPAs to meet firefighting needs.  Id. at 111.  Award would be made on a best-value tradeoff basis considering two evaluation factors, quote acceptability and price.  Id. at 110.  The quote acceptability factor would be evaluated on a pass or fail basis (i.e., “go” or “no go”) considering three subfactors:  assent to terms of the solicitation; key personnel; and past performance.  Id.  Quoted prices would be evaluated to determine whether they were fair and reasonable.  Id. at 111.   Seventy-five vendors, including CSR, submitted quotations prior to the February 24 close of the solicitation period.  AR, Tab 13, Rationale for Establishment Memorandum (REM) at 2.  CSR’s quotation offered three handcrews under two contract line item numbers (CLIN) for which the firm proposed three individuals to serve as the crew boss (the key personnel), one for each handcrew.  AR Tab 8, CSR Non-price Quotation, at 1.  CSR’s quotation was evaluated as no go under the key personnel subfactor because “no PTB[s] [position task book]” were submitted “for FFT1 [advanced firefighter/squad boss]” qualifications for the three key personnel crew bosses.  REM at 5.  Finally, the Forest Service evaluated CSR’s quoted pricing as fair and reasonable.  AR Tab 11, Price Analysis by Company Spreadsheet at CSR worksheet; REM at 7.  Ultimately, the Forest Service established BPAs with 52 other vendors.  Id.