Stevenson Intermountain Seed, Inc. (140L3721R0010)

B-420086 Nov 22, 2021 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Stevenson Intermountain Seed, Inc. (Stevenson), a small business located in Ephraim, Utah, protests the award of a contract to Flying M. Enterprises (Flying M) under request for proposals (RFP) No. 140L3721R0010, issued by the Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management (BLM), to purchase various species of land restoration seeds. Stevenson challenges the past performance evaluation and the award to Flying M for certified immigrant Kochia (Kochia) seeds. We deny the protest. View Decision Decision Matter of:  Stevenson Intermountain Seed, Inc. File:  B-420086 Date:  November 22, 2021 Jason Stevenson for the protester. William B. Blake, Esq., Department of the Interior, for the agency. Paula A. Williams, Esq., and Edward Goldstein, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Protest that agency misevaluated both the protester’s and the awardee’s proposals under solicitation’s past performance factor is denied where the contemporaneous record shows that the agency’s evaluation was reasonable and consistent with the solicitation. DECISION Stevenson Intermountain Seed, Inc. (Stevenson), a small business located in Ephraim, Utah, protests the award of a contract to Flying M. Enterprises (Flying M) under request for proposals (RFP) No. 140L3721R0010, issued by the Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management (BLM), to purchase various species of land restoration seeds. Stevenson challenges the past performance evaluation and the award to Flying M for certified immigrant Kochia (Kochia) seeds.  We deny the protest.  BACKGROUND The RFP was issued on June 30, 2021, seeking proposals for award of multiple fixed-price contracts pursuant to the procedures of Federal Acquisition Regulation part 15.  The solicitation contemplated the purchase of up to 120 different species of land restoration seeds.[1]  RFP at 8; Contracting Officer’s Statement at 2.  The requirement is referred to as BLM’s seed buy program and the program objective is to consolidate the agency’s needs for land restoration seeds for most of the western states.  The seeds are utilized for emergency restoration and stabilization projects after wildland fires, fuel reduction projects, wildlife habitat restoration, and other public land improvement projects.  Contracting Officer’s Statement at 2.  The RFP included a price spreadsheet with the varieties of land restoration seeds listed as separate line items (i.e., seed lots).  Contracting Officer’s Statement at 2.  Offerors were required to enter the total pounds, price per pound, and the percent of purity, i.e., pure live seed (PLS), for each type of seed being offered on this spreadsheet.  Id.; RFP at 10.  Offerors were permitted to submit multiple offers for any seed lot in any category or combination of categories.  RFP at 8; Contracting Officer Statement at 2.  The solicitation advised that each offer would be evaluated separately.  RFP at 70. The RFP provided that awards were to be made to offerors whose proposals provided the best value to the government, considering the following evaluation factors:  technical considerations, past performance, and price.  Id. at 73.  When combined, the solicitation stated that the non-price evaluation factors were somewhat more important than price.  Id.  Of relevance to this protest, the RFP stated that the past performance evaluation would assess the offeror’s delivery performance and quality of past performance that occurred during the past three years.  Id.  The RFP also stated that the past performance for a line item might be evaluated based on seeds delivered under prior government contracts.  Id. at 75.  The RFP did not identify any adjectival ratings or numerical scores to be assigned to the non-price evaluation factors.  BLM received proposals from multiple offerors, including Stevenson and Flying M.  Contracting Officer Statement at 3.  As is relevant here, the solicitation identified a requirement for 9,300 pounds of Kochia seeds, and the four lowest-priced offers to provide the Kochia seeds were as follows:  Quantity Offered (pounds) Evaluated PLS Price (per pound) Stevenson (Lot 1) 1,000 $23.80 Offeror A 3,000 $27.27 Stevenson (Lot 2) 1,000 $34.67 Flying M 10,000 $34.72 Contracting Officer’s Statement at 3.  The contracting officer, who was the source selection authority for the procurement, noted in the source selection documentation that Offeror A and Flying M each had a better record of past performance than Stevenson and therefore their offers represented a better value to the government.  The agency made award to Offeror A for 3,000 pounds at a PLS price of $27.27 per pound and to Flying M for 6,300 pounds at a PLS price of $34.72 per pound.  Id. at 3-4; Agency Report (AR) exh.