Meridian Knowledge Solutions, LLC (24361820D0001)

B-420906 Nov 02, 2022 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Meridian Knowledge Solutions, LLC, a small business of Arlington, Virginia, protests the issuance of a task order to PowerTrain, Inc., a small business of Landover, Maryland, by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) under indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract No. 24361820D0001, and protests OPM's award of a "follow-on" transition contract to PowerTrain on a sole-source basis. The protester asserts that the requirements of the task order are beyond the scope of the underlying IDIQ contract and also argues that the agency's award of a follow-on transition contract on a sole-source basis was improper. 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: Meridian Knowledge Solutions, LLC File: B-420906 Date: November 2, 2022 Lucas T. Hanback, Esq., Robert S. Metzger, Esq., Dennis J. Callahan, Esq., Alexandria Tindall Webb, Esq., and Cindy Lopez, Esq., Rogers Joseph O’Donnell, PC, for the protester. James Y. Boland, Esq., and Allison M. Siegel, Esq., Venable LLP, for PowerTrain, Inc., the intervenor. James Muetzel, Esq., Office of Personnel Management, for the agency. Uri R. Yoo, Esq., and Alexander O. Levine, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST 1. Protest asserting that task order requirements are beyond the scope of the underlying indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract is denied where the record shows the services sought were reasonably encompassed within the contract’s scope of work and the protester’s allegations are based on facts not reflected in the record. 2. Protester is not an interested party to challenge agency’s award of a transition contract on a noncompetitive basis where the protester would be ineligible for award even if the protest was sustained and the contract was awarded on a competitive basis. DECISION Meridian Knowledge Solutions, LLC, a small business of Arlington, Virginia, protests the issuance of a task order to PowerTrain, Inc., a small business of Landover, Maryland, by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) under indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract No. 24361820D0001, and protests OPM’s award of a “follow-on” transition contract to PowerTrain on a sole-source basis. The protester asserts that the requirements of the task order are beyond the scope of the underlying IDIQ contract and also argues that the agency’s award of a follow-on transition contract on a sole-source basis was improper. We deny the protest. BACKGROUND Underlying IDIQ Contract On February 28, 2015, OPM awarded a fixed-price IDIQ contract (2015 contract) to PowerTrain for services in support of the agency’s USALearning (USAL) program[1] after competing the requirement as a total set-aside to small businesses under request for proposals (RFP) No. OPM2614R0023. Contracting Officer’s Statement (COS) at 1; see Agency Report (AR), Exh. 1, 2015 Contract at 1; Exh. 2a, 2014 RFP at 1. The RFP sought support services for OPM’s Government Online Learning Center, USAL Knowledge Portal, and e‑training programs, with the capability to provide “various customized learning management systems to support multiple clients simultaneously.” AR, Exh. 2a, 2014 RFP at 2. The RFP specified that the contractor would be required to “supply software and/or services with the capability of implementing, maintaining and servicing commercial off the shelf (COTS) learning management systems (LMS).” Id. Among the services required under the RFP were: (1) learning management systems; (2) learning content management systems; (3) course development; (4) hosting; (5) help desk services; (6) online forums; (7) technical support; (8) technical training; (9) online assessments; (10) organizational needs assessment; and (11) strategic planning, conference coordination, and executive coaching. Id. at 4-6. For the LMS services, the solicitation described the requirement as follows: This service is to design, develop, and implement a customized [LMS] for a client agency. This task will evaluate the optimal LMS solution, support establishing the agency-unique LMS site customized to . . . agency requirements, implementing custom workflow, loading historical training completions, users, and courses, and providing a real-time dashboard showing reports of user progress in a secure socket layer (SSL) encrypted environment. This area will also include customizations to existing systems and upgrades. The contractor must be capable of providing various customized learning management systems to support multiple clients simultaneously. Id. at 4.