Front End Analytics, LLC (AF212-D003)

B-420024.2,B-420024.3 Feb 02, 2022 Jump To FULL REPORT VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Front End Analytics, LLC, a small business of Boston, Massachusetts, protests the decision by the Department of the Air Force not to select its phase II proposal under the Department of Defense's (DOD) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) 21.2 Program Broad Agency Announcement (BAA), which invited proposals for research and development projects. The protester challenges the agency's evaluation of its proposal as not selectable for award and the agency's corrective action taken in response to an earlier protest. 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:  Front End Analytics, LLC File:  B-420024.2; B-420024.3 Date:  February 2, 2022 Joel L. Hamner, Esq., Whitcomb Selinsky, P.C., for the protester. Aaron J. Weaver, Esq., Lawrence M. Anderson, Esq., Major Constance S. Wilkes, and Colonel Frank Yoon, Department of the Air Force, for the agency. David A. Edelstein, Esq., and Evan C. Williams, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Protest challenging agency’s decision not to select proposal for funding under phase II of a Department of Defense Small Business Innovation Research Program solicitation is denied where solicitation required proposals to address specific “areas of interest” and agency reasonably concluded that the protester’s proposal did not relate to these areas of interest. DECISION Front End Analytics, LLC, a small business of Boston, Massachusetts, protests the decision by the Department of the Air Force not to select its phase II proposal under the Department of Defense’s (DOD) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) 21.2 Program Broad Agency Announcement (BAA), which invited proposals for research and development projects.  The protester challenges the agency’s evaluation of its proposal as not selectable for award and the agency’s corrective action taken in response to an earlier protest. We deny the protest. BACKGROUND The Department of Defense issued the BAA under the SBIR program on April 21, 2021, seeking proposals from small businesses for a variety of research and development (R&D) topics on behalf of multiple participating DOD components, including the Department of the Air Force.[1]  See Agency Report (AR), Tab 4, BAA at 1. The BAA consisted of three sections of increasing specificity:  first, the text of the BAA applicable to all proposals; second, “component-specific instructions” applicable only to proposals submitted to a particular DOD component; and third, a description of and instructions for each specific topic for which the DOD components were seeking proposals.  See generally, BAA.  The BAA stated that proposals needed to identify the topic to which they applied.  Id. at 23.  The BAA further provided that “[t]he proposed research or research and development must be responsive to the chosen topic.”  Id. at 12.  Certain Air Force topics under the BAA were identified as “direct to phase II” topics, meaning firms would be eligible for an award even if they had not previously received a phase I SBIR award related to the topic.[2]  Id. at 211-12.  The BAA provided as follows regarding the evaluation of phase II proposals:  Proposals will be evaluated based on the criteria outlined below, unless otherwise specified in the Component-specific instructions.  Selections will be based on best value to the Government considering the following factors which are listed in descending order of importance: a. The soundness, technical merit, and innovation of the proposed approach and its incremental progress toward topic or subtopic solution. b. The qualifications of the proposed principal/key investigators, supporting staff, and consultants.  Qualifications include not only the ability to perform the research and development but also the ability to commercialize the results. c. The potential for commercial (Government or private sector) application and the benefits expected to accrue from this commercialization. Id. at 28, § 6.0 (setting forth the evaluation criteria for phase I proposals); see id. at 29, § 7.4 (stating that those criteria applied to phase II proposals).  The Air Force’s component-specific instructions stated that “[a] Phase II proposal shall provide sufficient information to persuade the [Air Force] the proposed technology advancement represents an innovative solution to the scientific or engineering problem worthy of support under the stated criteria.”  Id.