Snodgrass JV (W56ZTN-19-R-0005)

B-420376 Jan 31, 2022 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights All Phase Solutions, LLC, a small business of Delray Beach, Florida, protests the refusal of the Small Business Administration (SBA) to issue a certificate of competency (COC) to All Phase for its proposal under request for proposals (RFP) No. W56ZTN-19-R-0005, which was issued by the Department of the Army, for the establishment of multiple-award, indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contracts for maintenance, repair, and minor construction on Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland. All Phase alleges that the SBA failed to follow its applicable COC regulations when it failed to evaluate the protester's responsibility based on its proposed substitute key personnel. We dismiss 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:  All Phase Solutions, LLC File:  B-420376 Date:  January 31, 2022 Lawrence J. Sklute, Esq., and Lana Meller, Esq., Sklute & Associates, for the protester. Wade L. Brown, Esq., Carlin R. Walsh, Esq., and Joseph S. Beazley, Esq., Department of the Army, for the agency. Evan D. Wesser, Esq., and Edward Goldstein, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Protest challenging the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) decision not to issue a certificate of competency (COC) is dismissed because the protester’s arguments that the SBA failed to follow applicable regulations when SBA did not consider the protester’s alternate proposed key personnel is legally and factually insufficient.  There is nothing in the applicable regulations that required SBA (or the procuring agency) to accept proposal revisions as part of the COC process. DECISION All Phase Solutions, LLC, a small business of Delray Beach, Florida, protests the refusal of the Small Business Administration (SBA) to issue a certificate of competency (COC)[1] to All Phase for its proposal under request for proposals (RFP) No. W56ZTN-19-R-0005, which was issued by the Department of the Army, for the establishment of multiple-award, indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contracts for maintenance, repair, and minor construction on Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland.  All Phase alleges that the SBA failed to follow its applicable COC regulations when it failed to evaluate the protester’s responsibility based on its proposed substitute key personnel. We dismiss the protest. BACKGROUND The RFP, which was issued on September 17, 2019, and subsequently amended 10 times, sought proposals from SBA 8(a) business development program[2] participants for the establishment of approximately five multiple-award, IDIQ contracts for maintenance, repair, and minor construction on Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland.  RFP at 1.  The RFP contemplated the award of contracts with 12-month base periods, and four, 12-month option periods.  Id. at 146.  Resulting task orders will be issued on a fixed-price basis, and the total ceiling of the multiple-award IDIQ contracts is $99.5 million.  Id. at 16, 33. For the purposes of award, the agency was to conduct a best-value tradeoff considering three factors:  (1) technical; (2) past performance; and (3) price.  Protest, exh. 4, RFP, amend. 9 at 23.[3]  Past performance was slightly more important than the technical factor, which was more important than price.  Id.  The technical factor included four equally weighted subfactors:  (a) bonding capacity and rate; (b) safety record; (c) selected key personnel; and (d) contract management plan.  Id. at 24.  Subfactors a, b, and d were to be qualitatively assessed, while subfactor c, key personnel, would only be evaluated for deficiencies on a pass/fail basis.  Id. at 25.  Only the key personnel subfactor is relevant to our resolution of the protest. Under the key personnel subfactor, offerors were required to submit resumes demonstrating the qualifications, education, and other information required by the RFP for their respective proposed:  (1) quality control manager; (2) project manager; (3) superintendents; and (4) contract safety manager/safety consultant.  Id.