Geo Owl, LLC (SCS22001)

B-420599 Jun 13, 2022 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Geo Owl, LLC, a small business of Wilmington, North Carolina, protests the issuance of a task order to Quiet Professionals, LLC (QP), a small business of Tampa, Florida, under request for task order proposals (RFTOP) No. SCS22001, issued by the Department of Defense, Special Operations Command (SOCOM), for socio-cultural analysis services. The protester contends the agency's evaluation of proposals was unreasonable and uneven, and that SOCOM failed to adequately consider an alleged conflict of interest that provided the awardee with an unfair competitive advantage. 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: Geo Owl, LLC File: B-420599 Date: June 13, 2022 Shane J. McCall, Esq., Nicole D. Pottroff, Esq., John L. Holtz, Esq., Kevin B. Wickliffe, Esq., and Stephanie L. Ellis, Esq., Koprince McCall Pottroff LLC, for the protester. Darwin A. Hindman, III, Esq., and Kseniya N. Kuprovska, Esq., Baker Donelson, for Quiet Professionals, LLC, the intervenor. Isabelle P. Cutting, Esq., Department of Defense, for the agency. Michael P. Grogan, Esq., and Evan D. Wesser, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST 1. Protest that agency failed to adequately investigate a potential conflict of interest arising from the awardee’s alleged hiring of a former agency contracting official is denied where the protester fails to establish hard facts demonstrating that the official was ever employed by the awardee or otherwise involved in the preparation of its proposal, and the agency’s investigation concluded that the official was employed by a different section of the procuring agency and had no involvement in the procurement at issue. 2. Protest of agency’s technical evaluation is denied where the evaluation was reasonable, even-handed, and consistent with the solicitation’s evaluation criteria, and, even assuming that the agency committed any error, such error was not competitively prejudicial. DECISION Geo Owl, LLC, a small business of Wilmington, North Carolina, protests the issuance of a task order to Quiet Professionals, LLC (QP), a small business of Tampa, Florida, under request for task order proposals (RFTOP) No. SCS22001, issued by the Department of Defense, Special Operations Command (SOCOM), for socio-cultural analysis services. The protester contends the agency’s evaluation of proposals was unreasonable and uneven, and that SOCOM failed to adequately consider an alleged conflict of interest that provided the awardee with an unfair competitive advantage. We deny the protest. BACKGROUND The agency issued the solicitation on November 29, 2021, pursuant to the procedures in Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) subpart 16.5, as a small business set-aside, to firms holding special operations forces core support indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) multiple-award task order contracts. Agency Report (AR), Tab 3, RFTOP Release Email at 1.[1] The RFTOP contemplated the issuance of a single task order, with labor-hour and cost-reimbursement contract line items, with a 3-month base period of performance and four, 1-year option periods. AR, Tab 4a, RFTOP at 1, 6. The solicitation sought subject matter experts to provide information and analysis related to socio-cultural, pattern, cyber, all-source intelligence, and information operation services to inform senior leaders, mission planners, and special operations forces. AR, Tab 4e, Statement of Work (SOW) at 1. The solicitation provided for award on a best-value tradeoff basis, considering two factors: (1) management; and (2) price.[2] AR, Tab 4a, RFTOP at 8. Each offeror was to provide a proposal that addressed several sub-elements under the management factor, including transition plan, staffing approach, management of issues, and key personnel resumes. Id. at 3-4. The solicitation advised that under the management factor, SOCOM would evaluate each offeror’s overall approach to manage and execute the task order and would assign an overall color/adjectival technical rating, with the following possible combinations: Blue/Outstanding; Purple/Good; Green/Acceptable; Yellow/Marginal; Red/Unacceptable. Id. at 7. Price would be evaluated for completeness and reasonableness, and an offeror’s compensation plan (which was to be included as part of an offeror’s price proposal) would be evaluated for realism. Id. at 8. The RFTOP stated that management was significantly more important than price. Id. at 9. The agency received multiple proposals by the submission due date, including proposals from Geo Owl and QP. Contracting Officer’s Statement (COS) at 9.