McLane Advanced Technologies, LLC (RFQ1532024)

B-420713,B-420713.2 Aug 01, 2022 Jump To FULL REPORT VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights McLane Advanced Technologies, LLC (MAT), of Vienna, Virginia, protests the issuance of a task order to SS Solutions and Training, of San Antonio, Texas, pursuant to request for quotations (RFQ) No. 1532024, issued by the Department of the Army, Army Materiel Command, for post-production software support for the agency's property book unit supply enhanced (PBUSE) requirement. McLane asserts that SST made material misrepresentations in its quotation that render SST ineligible for award of the task order. McLane also protests that the agency performed an unreasonable best-value tradeoff analysis. 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: McLane Advanced Technologies, LLC File: B-420713; B-420713.2 Date: August 1, 2022 Jayna M. Rust, Esq., Scott F. Lane, Esq., and Katherine S. Nucci, Esq., Thompson Coburn LLP, for the protester. Robert K. Tompkins, Esq., Hillary J. Freund, Esq., Kelsey M. Hayes, Esq., and Sean R. Belanger, Esq., Holland & Knight LLP, for STS Solutions and Training, LLC, the intervenor. Wade L. Brown, Esq., and Pamela Kennerly Ignatius, Esq., Department of the Army, for the agency. Mary G. Curcio, Esq., and John Sorrenti, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST 1. Protest that misrepresentations in awardee’s quotation should result in rejection of the quotation is denied where alleged misrepresentations were not relied upon by the agency in the evaluation, and therefore were not material to the selection decision. 2. Protest that source selection decision was improperly based on adjectival ratings, rather than the merits of competing quotations, is denied where the record demonstrates that in conducting the price/technical tradeoff the source selection official reviewed the evaluation record and considered the merits of all quotations. DECISION McLane Advanced Technologies, LLC (MAT), of Vienna, Virginia, protests the issuance of a task order to SS Solutions and Training, of San Antonio, Texas, pursuant to request for quotations (RFQ) No. 1532024, issued by the Department of the Army, Army Materiel Command, for post-production software support for the agency’s property book unit supply enhanced (PBUSE) requirement. McLane asserts that SST made material misrepresentations in its quotation that render SST ineligible for award of the task order. McLane also protests that the agency performed an unreasonable best-value tradeoff analysis. We deny the protest. BACKGROUND PBUSE provides agency users with a responsive and efficient means of maintaining accountable records for government assets and total asset visibility. Agency Report (AR), Tab 7, Performance Work Statement at 1. The solicitation seeks support for cyber security information assurance vulnerability alerts (IAVA), vendor technical releases, and necessary emergency or software fixes. Id. The Army issued the solicitation on December 14, 2021, using the Federal Supply Schedule procedures of Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) subpart 8.4. AR, Tab 5, RFQ Instructions and Evaluation Criteria at 1. The solicitation was issued as a small business set-aside to vendors holding contracts under the General Services Administration multiple award schedule contract for information technology, special item No. 54151S. Id. Quotations were due on January 13, 2022. The solicitation provided that the task order would be issued on a best-value tradeoff basis considering two factors--technical approach and price; for the award decision, technical approach was considered more important than price. Id. at 4. The agency considered three areas in evaluating the technical approach factor: (1) methodology for performing, analyzing and implementing information assurance vulnerability alerts, operating systems, and third party vendors’ critical security notifications and Oracle quarterly patch deployments; (2) methodology for conducting configuration management activities and audits; and (3) methodology of the software development processes and approach that will be used to support the PBUSE application software. Id. at 6, 8. The overall technical approach factor was assigned an adjectival rating; the areas of consideration were not assigned individual ratings.[1] Price was evaluated for reasonableness. The Army received eight quotations.