EBS Supply, Inc (M0068122Q0004)

B-420604 Jun 02, 2022 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights EBS Supply, Inc., a small business of San Diego, California, protests the award of a contract to Railroad Cleaners d/b/a RRC Commercial, a small business of Pittsburg, California, under request for quotations (RFQ) No. M0068122Q0004, issued by the United States Marine Corps (USMC) for protective equipment leasing and laundering services. The protester contends that the agency unreasonably evaluated its quotation as technically unacceptable. We deny the protest. View Decision Decision Matter of: EBS Supply, Inc. File: B-420604 Date: June 2, 2022 Gilbert West, EBS Supply, Inc., for the protester. Kristopher Cronin, Esq., United States Marine Corps, for the agency. Christine Milne, Esq., and Tania Calhoun, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Protest that the agency unreasonably evaluated the protester’s quotation as technically unacceptable is denied where the record shows that the evaluation was reasonable in light of the protester’s failure to submit an adequately written quotation. DECISION EBS Supply, Inc., a small business of San Diego, California, protests the award of a contract to Railroad Cleaners d/b/a RRC Commercial, a small business of Pittsburg, California, under request for quotations (RFQ) No. M0068122Q0004, issued by the United States Marine Corps (USMC) for protective equipment leasing and laundering services. The protester contends that the agency unreasonably evaluated its quotation as technically unacceptable. We deny the protest. BACKGROUND The RFQ, issued on February 1, 2022, as a small business set-aside, contemplated the award of a fixed-price indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract to provide shop towels, coveralls, shirts, and pants leasing and laundering services for the agency’s Southwest Regional Fleet Transportation department. Agency Report (AR), Exh. 1, RFQ Performance Work Statement (PWS) ¶ 1.0. The services were to be provided over a 1-year base period and four 1-year option periods at various installations in California and Arizona. Id. Under the contract, these installations could lease clothing and shop towels (also referred to as rags) for the protection of agency personnel in their handling of hazardous materials and waste. Id. at ¶ 2.0. The PWS set forth specific requirements for the laundering, pick-up, and delivery of these items. Id. at ¶¶ 3.0, 5.0. Award was to be made to the firm with the lowest-priced, technically acceptable quotation, considering three factors: technical capability, price, and past performance factors. RFP at 44. Under the technical capability factor, quotations would be evaluated as acceptable or unacceptable based on three subfactors, including technical approach to the PWS requirements and quality control plan. Id. at 45. As to the technical approach subfactor, vendors were advised that their written technical approaches were required to clearly describe how they will accomplish “all the requirements in the PWS,” including those in paragraph 3.0. Id. As to the quality control plan subfactor, vendors’ plans were to demonstrate the ability to manage and control all of the PWS objectives, including those in the performance requirements summary in paragraph 5.0.[1] Id. Among other things, the PWS required with respect to clothing that “[o]ff-the-shelf” sizes must be delivered within five days for new task orders, PWS ¶ 3.2.8, and that, after laundering, finished items must be hung on individual hangers and each employee’s clothing must be grouped separately and hangers bound together by a wire tie or rubber band. PWS ¶ 3.2.9. With respect to shop towels, the PWS required the contractor to provide freestanding containers with lids for soiled rags as well as a separate container for clean rags, and included specific requirements for the laundering, pick-up, and delivery of shop towels. Id. at ¶¶ 3.3.3, 3.3.4, 3.3.5, 5. The agency received four quotations by the submission due date, including those from EBS, the incumbent contractor, and RRC. Contracting Officer’s Statement (COS) at 6. EBS’s quotation was found technically unacceptable for failing to meet the requirements under the technical approach and quality control plan subfactors. AR, Exh. 4, Award Decision at 2-3. Under the technical approach subfactor, the agency noted that EBS failed to describe how it would meet the PWS requirements regarding the five-day delivery of “off-the-shelf” sizes of clothing, and regarding the provision of fireproof bins for shop towels. Id. Under the quality control plan subfactor, the agency noted that EBS’s quotation did not provide that it would bind clothing together by a wire tie or rubber band, or state that it would provide shop towel services as required by the PWS. Id.