Ekagra Partners, LLC (1333LB21Q00000010)

B-420733,B-420733.2 Aug 09, 2022 Jump To FULL REPORT VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Ekagra Partners, LLC, a small business of Leesburg, Virginia, protests the establishment of a blanket purchase agreement (BPA) and the issuance of two call orders to Paradyme Management, Inc., also a small business of Greenbelt, Maryland, under request for quotations (RFQ) No. 1333LB21Q00000010. The RFQ was issued by the Department of Commerce, United States Census Bureau, for tools catalog support services. Ekagra challenges the agency's technical, past performance, and price evaluations, and the reasonableness of the agency's source selection. The protester also argues that the agency conducted misleading discussions. We deny the protest in part, and dismiss it in part. 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: Ekagra Partners, LLC File: B-420733; B-420733.2 Date: August 9, 2022 Jon D. Levin, Esq., W. Brad English, Esq., Emily J. Chancey, Esq., Joshua Duvall, Esq., and Nicolas Greer, Esq., Maynard Cooper & Gale PC, for the protester. Christian B. Nagel, Esq., Hillary J. Freund, Esq., and Kelsey M. Hayes, Esq., Holland & Knight LLP, for Paradyme Management, Inc., the intervenor. Wilmary Bernal, Esq., Department of Commerce, for the agency. Kasia Dourney, Esq., and Alexander O. Levine, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST 1. Protest challenging evaluation of the protester’s key personnel and its proposed technical approach for one of the call orders is denied where the record shows that the agency’s evaluation was reasonable and consistent with the terms of the solicitation. 2. Protester is not an interested party to challenge the evaluation of quotations and resulting award decision where the protester was not eligible for award as a result of submitting a technically unacceptable quotation. DECISION Ekagra Partners, LLC, a small business of Leesburg, Virginia, protests the establishment of a blanket purchase agreement (BPA) and the issuance of two call orders to Paradyme Management, Inc., also a small business of Greenbelt, Maryland, under request for quotations (RFQ) No. 1333LB21Q00000010. The RFQ was issued by the Department of Commerce, United States Census Bureau, for tools catalog support services. Ekagra challenges the agency’s technical, past performance, and price evaluations, and the reasonableness of the agency’s source selection. The protester also argues that the agency conducted misleading discussions. We deny the protest in part, and dismiss it in part. BACKGROUND On July 1, 2021, the agency issued the RFQ, as a small business set-aside, under the General Services Administration’s (GSA) federal supply schedule (FSS) procedures of Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) subpart 8.4, to vendors holding Information Technology (IT) schedule No. 70 contracts. Agency Report (AR), Tab 5, RFQ at 1-2. The solicitation was issued under the corresponding size standard of North American Industry Classification System code 541511 (custom computer programming services). Id. at 2. The RFQ anticipated establishment of a single BPA and issuance of two call orders; the orders could be issued on a fixed-price or labor-hour basis, or a combination thereof, for a base year and four 1-year option periods. Id. The RFQ provided for award on a best-value tradeoff basis, considering the following evaluation factors: (1) similar experience and past performance; (2) master BPA--technical approach; (3) call order 0001--technical approach; (4) call order 0002--technical approach; and (5) price. Id. at 111. The first two factors each consisted of two equally-weighted subfactors; for factor 1, the RFQ provided for subfactor (1)(A), similar experience, and subfactor (1)(B), past performance. Id. For factor 2, the RFQ provided for subfactor (2)(A), management approach for BPA, and subfactor (2)(B), key personnel for BPA. Id. The non-price factors were of equal importance and when combined, were significantly more important than price. Id. at 112. The solicitation identified three key personnel positions: project manager, lead tools administrator, and Tools Support Center of Excellence (TSCoE) lead subject matter expert.[1] AR, Tab 8, RFQ amend. 3 at 113. The RFQ required vendors to submit resumes for the key personnel positions and provided that the agency would evaluate the resumes to determine the extent the candidates “meet, or exceed, skills, experience and education required in performing the work.” Id. at 113-14. As relevant here, the agency would assess the “[k]nowledge, skills and abilities of the proposed key personnel to meet minimum labor category requirements.” Id.