First American Business Solutions (W91RUS21R0078)

B-420002 Sep 29, 2021 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights First American Business Solutions (First ABS), a small business of New Port Richey, Florida, protests the award of a contract to Cornerstone Communications, Inc., of Fenton, Missouri, under solicitation No. W91RUS21R0078, issued by the Department of the Army, Army Materiel Command, for support to the telephone switching systems and associated equipment installed at Army installations in Alaska. The protester primarily contends that the agency was unreasonable in finding the awardee's proposal to be technically acceptable. We deny the protest. View Decision Decision Matter of:  First American Business Solutions File:  B-420002 Date:  September 29, 2021 David Colangelo, First American Business Solutions, for the protester. Wade L. Brown, Esq., Department of the Army, for the agency. Emily R. O’Hara, Esq., and Peter H. Tran, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Protest challenging the agency’s technical evaluation of the awardee’s offer is denied where the agency reasonably determined that the awardee attested that it had the proper technical certifications, as was required by the solicitation.  DECISION First American Business Solutions (First ABS), a small business of New Port Richey, Florida, protests the award of a contract to Cornerstone Communications, Inc., of Fenton, Missouri, under solicitation No. W91RUS21R0078, issued by the Department of the Army, Army Materiel Command, for support to the telephone switching systems and associated equipment installed at Army installations in Alaska.  The protester primarily contends that the agency was unreasonable in finding the awardee’s proposal to be technically acceptable. We deny the protest. BACKGROUND The solicitation, issued on May 13, 2021, sought to acquire remote technical assistance and support for the Nortel/Avaya telephone switching systems used by the Army as part of the Defense Switched Network voice switches that provided unclassified voice services to personnel located at Fort Wainwright and Fort Greely, Alaska.[1]  COS/MOL at 2; Agency Report (AR), Tab 4, Request for Proposals (RFP) at 9.  Although not clearly stated in the solicitation, the agency advises that the procurement was conducted as a commercial item acquisition using the procedures of Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) parts 12 and 13.  Resp. to Req. for Additional Development (AD) (Resp. to AD) at 3.  The requirement called for, among other things, providing “remote diagnostics, testing, trouble shooting, problem remediation, and system restoration services, remote software releases/patch administration, repair/replacement, and remote engineering support.”[2]  RFP at 5.  The solicitation anticipated award would be made on a lowest-price, technically acceptable basis, considering only two evaluation factors:  technical and price.  Id. at 9.  The Army received three proposals in response to the solicitation.  A technical evaluation team evaluated proposals and ultimately found the proposals from Cornerstone and First ABS to be technically acceptable.  COS/MOL at 3.  Based on the prices proposed by Cornerstone ($72,000) and First ABS ($120,278.20), the agency made award to Cornerstone as the lowest-priced, technically acceptable offeror.  Id. at 3-4. On July 19, the protester emailed the Army, requesting the status of the procurement.  AR, Tab 14, Protester Email to Agency at 9.  The next day, the agency notified the protester that award had been made to Cornerstone in the amount of $72,000.  Id.