Booz Allen Hamilton, Inc. (ID04200119)

B-420116.6,B-420116.7 Aug 22, 2022 Jump To FULL REPORT VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Booz Allen Hamilton, Inc. (Booz Allen), of McLean, Virginia, protests the General Services Administration's (GSA's) issuance of a task order to General Dynamics Information Technology, Inc. (GDIT), of Falls Church, Virginia, under task order request for proposals (TORFP) No. ID04200119. The TORFP, issued by GSA on behalf of the Department of the Air Force, seeks information technology (IT) support services for the First Air Force/Air Forces Northern (AFNORTH) mission deployed systems and special programs. Booz Allen, the incumbent contractor, argues that the agency's evaluation, tradeoff analysis, and resulting award decision are unreasonable. 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: Booz Allen Hamilton, Inc. File: B-420116.6; B-420116.7 Date: August 22, 2022 Kayleigh M. Scalzo, Esq., Andrew R. Guy, Esq., and Anna M. Menzel, Esq., Covington & Burling, LLP, for the protester. Noah B. Bleicher, Esq., Carla J. Weiss, Esq., Moshe B. Broder, Esq., and Scott E. Whitman, Esq., Jenner & Block, LLP, for General Dynamics Information Technology, Inc., the intervenor. Jaron E. Chriss, Esq., and Bethany White, Esq., General Services Administration, for the agency. Sarah T. Zaffina, Esq., and Jennifer D. Westfall-McGrail, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST 1. Protest challenging the agency’s evaluation is denied where the record shows that the evaluation was consistent with the contents of the offerors’ proposals and the terms of the solicitation. 2. Agency’s selection of a lower-rated, lower-priced proposal for award is unobjectionable where the agency’s tradeoff decision demonstrates that the agency understood the relative merits and prices of the proposals. DECISION Booz Allen Hamilton, Inc. (Booz Allen), of McLean, Virginia, protests the General Services Administration’s (GSA’s) issuance of a task order to General Dynamics Information Technology, Inc. (GDIT), of Falls Church, Virginia, under task order request for proposals (TORFP) No. ID04200119. The TORFP, issued by GSA on behalf of the Department of the Air Force, seeks information technology (IT) support services for the First Air Force/Air Forces Northern (AFNORTH) mission deployed systems and special programs. Booz Allen, the incumbent contractor, argues that the agency’s evaluation, tradeoff analysis, and resulting award decision are unreasonable. We deny the protest. BACKGROUND On December 8, 2020, GSA issued the solicitation on an unrestricted basis under GSA’s Alliant 2, governmentwide acquisition contract (GWAC), which is a multiple award, indefinite‑delivery, indefinite‑quantity (IDIQ) contract vehicle.[1] Id. at 1.[2] The procurement was conducted pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) subpart 16.5. Id. at 4. The solicitation contemplated the issuance of a single task order for a base year and four 1‑year options. AR, Tab 16b, TORFP amend. 2, Performance Work Statement (PWS) at 3, 5. The selected contractor will provide IT support for AFNORTH, located on Tyndall Air Force Base, Panama City, Florida. Tyndall Air Force Base has the sole responsibility for ensuring aerospace control and air defense of the continental United States, U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico. Id. at 4. The contractor will be required to implement and sustain end‑to‑end integrated IT solutions for AFNORTH by identifying capability shortfalls and new concepts, and investigating advanced IT solutions for the warfighter. Id. The TORFP advised offerors that the task order would be issued to the firm whose proposal provided the best value, based on a tradeoff between price and the following equally weighted non‑price factors: technical approach and past performance. TORFP amend. 2 at 4‑6. The non-price factors, when combined, were considered significantly more important than price, although the solicitation advised that the government would not “make an award at a significantly higher overall price to achieve slightly superior non‑price features.” Id. at 4 (emphasis omitted). In March 2021, GSA received proposals from three offerors, including Booz Allen and GDIT. After evaluating the proposals, GSA issued “confer letters” and conducted “confer sessions” with the offerors.[3] AR, Tab 1, B‑420116.2, B‑420116.3, Contracting Officer’s Statement (COS) at 4‑5.[4] After receiving and evaluating revised proposals GSA selected Booz Allen’s proposal for the task order on July 15. Booz Allen’s proposal was the highest technically rated as well as the highest priced. Id.