Texas Waste Company, LLC (36C25722Q1173)

B-421363.2 Nov 08, 2023 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Texas Waste Company, LLC, a service-disabled veteran-owned small business (SDVOSB) of New Braunfels, Texas, protests the award of a contract to CLC Services, Inc., a SDVOSB of Leming, Texas, under request for quotations (RFQ) No. 36C25722Q1173, issued by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for regulated medical waste removal and disposal services. Texas Waste asserts that the VA's evaluation of past performance was improperly affected by a bias against Texas Waste. 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 version has been approved for public release. Decision Matter of: Texas Waste Company, LLC File: B-421363.2 Date: November 8, 2023 Laurence Schor, Esq., and Scott D. Boyle, Esq., Asmar, Schor & McKenna, PLLC, for the protester. Natica C. Neely, Esq., Department of Veterans Affairs, 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 Protest alleging that agency made an unreasonable source selection decision based on bias is denied where the record shows that the agency’s evaluation was reasonable and consistent with the terms of the solicitation, and the protester failed to provide convincing evidence of bad faith. DECISION Texas Waste Company, LLC, a service-disabled veteran-owned small business (SDVOSB) of New Braunfels, Texas, protests the award of a contract to CLC Services, Inc., a SDVOSB of Leming, Texas, under request for quotations (RFQ) No. 36C25722Q1173, issued by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for regulated medical waste removal and disposal services. Texas Waste asserts that the VA’s evaluation of past performance was improperly affected by a bias against Texas Waste. We deny the protest. BACKGROUND The agency issued the solicitation on October 5, 2022, under the commercial item procedures of Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) part 12 and the simplified acquisition procedures of FAR part 13. Agency Report (AR), Exh. 1, RFQ at 1, 72‑73.[1] The solicitation, which was set aside for SDVOSBs, sought regulated medical waste removal and disposal services for the South Texas Veterans Health Care System. Id. at 127. The RFQ contemplated the award of a fixed-price contract for a 1-year base period and four 1-year option periods. Id. The RFQ provided for evaluation and award using the procedures outlined in FAR section 13.106‑2(b)(4)(ii).[2] Id. at 72. Specifically, the solicitation informed vendors that quotations would be evaluated based on price and past performance as follows: The lowest price[d] offer will be evaluated and if it is in the highest category of past performance, no other review will be completed, and [the contract] will be awarded to the lowest price[d] offer. If it is not in the highest category of past performance, we will evaluate the next lowest offer in the same manner[,] continuing until we have the lowest [priced] offer in the highest past performance category. If no offers are found to be in the highest category of past performance, then the award will be made [to] the lowest price[d] offer in the next to highest category of past performance. Id. As relevant here, for past performance, vendors were instructed to “[p]rovide references for up to five contracts within the last three years of similar size and scope,” along with information that includes the “performance period, contract number, agency, point of contact, phone number and email address.” Id. The solicitation further informed vendors that past performance would be “evaluated using [the contractor performance assessment reporting system (CPARS)], communicating with the provided references, and or by any other means determined by the government.” Id. The agency received four timely quotations from certified SDVOSBs, including Texas Waste and CLC. Memorandum of Law (MOL) at 3. During the initial evaluation of quotations, the agency determined that CLC submitted the lowest-priced quotation. Id. The agency then evaluated CLC’s past performance and assigned it a rating of exceptional, the highest possible rating. Id. In accordance with the solicitation’s evaluation criteria, the agency did not evaluate the remaining vendors (including Texas Waste) further and instead made the initial award to CLC. Id. On December 30, 2022, Texas Waste protested the agency’s award decision, alleging that the agency misevaluated quotations under the past performance factor. See Texas Waste Company, B‑421363, Jan. 25, 2023 (unpublished decision) at 1. In response, the agency filed a notice of corrective action resulting in our Office’s dismissal of the protest as academic. Id.