Westwind Computer Products, Inc. (12314421Q0078)

B-420119 Dec 08, 2021 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Westwind Computer Products, Inc., a small business of Albuquerque, New Mexico, protests the terms of request for quotations (RFQ) No. 12314421Q0078, issued by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in anticipation of a task order for enterprise business solutions licenses and software assurance to support the agency's enterprise business requirements. Westwind asserts that the agency's brand-name justification for limiting the competition to Microsoft enterprise software lacks a rational basis, and does not comply with one of the two applicable requirements identified in the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) for conducting brand-name only procurements in a task order environment. We sustain 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:  Westwind Computer Products, Inc. File:  B-420119 Date:  December 8, 2021 Scott Arnold, Esq., Robyn N. Burrows, Esq., and Samarth Barot, Esq., Blank Rome LLP, for the protester. Melissa D. McClellan, Esq., United States Department of Agriculture, for the agency. Kenneth Kilgour, Esq., and Heather Weiner, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Protest challenging solicitation’s limitation of sources on a brand-name basis as unduly restrictive of competition is sustained where the agency fails to state that other companies’ similar products, or products lacking a particular feature, do not meet, or cannot be modified to meet, the agency’s needs.  This justification is necessary to demonstrate a reasonable basis for the restriction as required by Federal Acquisition Regulation section 16.505(a)(4). DECISION Westwind Computer Products, Inc., a small business of Albuquerque, New Mexico, protests the terms of request for quotations (RFQ) No. 12314421Q0078, issued by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in anticipation of a task order for enterprise business solutions licenses and software assurance to support the agency’s enterprise business requirements.  Westwind asserts that the agency’s brand-name justification for limiting the competition to Microsoft enterprise software lacks a rational basis, and does not comply with one of the two applicable requirements identified in the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) for conducting brand-name only procurements in a task order environment. We sustain the protest. BACKGROUND Using the provisions of FAR subpart 16.5, USDA issued the RFQ to holders of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Solutions for Enterprise Wide Procurement V governmentwide acquisition contract.[1]  The solicitation, set aside for small businesses, contemplates the issuance of a single fixed-price task order for a 6‑month base period with four 12-month options to the lowest-priced vendor that meets and provides prices for all of the requirements.  Agency Report (AR), Tab 4, Instructions to Offerors at 1; Tab 5, Statement of Work (SOW) at 2.  The solicitation seeks quotations for enterprise business solutions licenses and software assurance to support the agency’s enterprise business requirements; the RFQ specifies that vendors are to propose only Microsoft products.  AR Tab 3, RFQ at 1.  The licenses at issue here will be used to support numerous USDA enterprise business requirements, including:  email, collaboration (data, voice, and video), conferencing, chat, cloud storage, local storage, word processing, spreadsheet capabilities, slide presentation, forms, website building, notes, security and compliance, eDiscovery, business intelligence, internet access, mobile platform support, records management, project management, enterprise resource management, workflows, application development, and database capability.  AR, Tab 5, SOW at 1.  The solicitation provides that “USDA has standardized on Microsoft Office, email and cloud and has been using these tools for over 20 years.”  Id.  It further requires that the “software provided must support the existing email system, business applications (word processing, spreadsheets, and slide presentations, etc.) and agency applications without the need for programming modifications.”  Id. One day prior to issuing the new solicitation, on August 23, 2021, the agency issued a brand-name justification pursuant to FAR section 16.505(a)(4).  See AR, Tab 6, Brand- Name Justification.  The justification describes the solicitation requirement as enterprise licensing and software assurance to support mission operations and meeting Presidential Executive Order (EO) 14028, “Improve the Nation’s Cybersecurity,” dated May 12, 2021.  Id.