CORMAC Corporation (RFQ230390)

B-421532,B-421532.2 Jun 14, 2023 Jump To FULL REPORT VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights CORMAC Corporation, of Leesburg, Virginia, protests the issuance of a task order to Explore Digits, Inc., of Silver Spring, Maryland, under request for quotations (RFQ) No. 230390, issued by the Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for legacy systems information technology (IT) modernization and maintenance services. The protester contends that the agency's evaluation of the protester's oral presentation was unreasonable. 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: CORMAC Corporation File: B-421532; B-421532.2 Date: June 14, 2023 William T. Welch, Esq., and Orest Jowyk, Esq., Reston Law Group, LLP, for the protester. Devon E Hewitt, Esq., Potomac Law Group, LLC, for Explore Digits, Inc., the intervenor. Pamela Waldron, Esq., and Ethan Chae, Esq., Department of Health and Human Services, for the agency. Emily R. O’Hara, Esq., and Peter H. Tran, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Protest challenging the agency’s technical evaluation of the protester’s quotation is denied where the record shows that the agency reasonably evaluated the protester’s responses to oral presentation questions. DECISION CORMAC Corporation, of Leesburg, Virginia, protests the issuance of a task order to Explore Digits, Inc., of Silver Spring, Maryland, under request for quotations (RFQ) No. 230390, issued by the Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for legacy systems information technology (IT) modernization and maintenance services. The protester contends that the agency’s evaluation of the protester’s oral presentation was unreasonable. We deny the protest. BACKGROUND The agency issued the solicitation on December 21, 2022, pursuant to General Services Administration’s (GSA) Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) procedures set forth in Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) subpart 8.4. Agency Report (AR), Tab 2, RFQ at 1,167.[1] Generally, the agency required maintenance and modernization of existing Medicare legacy IT systems. RFQ at 20. Specifically, the agency sought a contractor to migrate systems from CMS’s Baltimore Data Center to the Amazon Web Services cloud and convert code in the programming language of COBOL [common business orientation language] to Java.[2] Id. at 233. Maintenance activities would include “systems analysis, design, development support, programming, testing, data analysis, system documentation, and special projects, such as to a transition to modernized system and/or decommissioning of systems based on user research and CMS business requirements.” Id. The agency anticipated issuance of a fixed-price task order for one base year and four option years. Id. at 167-168. Award was to be made to the vendor whose quotation represented the best value to the government, with the following evaluation factors considered: oral presentation; concept paper; section 508 compliance[3]; and price. Id. at 171, 174. The two technical factors (oral presentation and concept paper), which were listed in descending order of importance, would be evaluated and assigned a confidence rating of “high,” “some,” or “low.” Id. at 171. Section 508 compliance was to be evaluated for acceptability. Id. at 177. Price would be evaluated for reasonableness. Id. at 182. When combined, the non-price factors were significantly more important than price.[4] Id. at 172. The agency evaluated the protester and awardee’s quotations with the following results: Explore Digits CORMAC Oral Presentation High Confidence Some Confidence Concept Paper Some Confidence High Confidence Section 508 Compliance Acceptable Acceptable Price $15,016,602.30 $16,152,798.04 AR, Tab 12, Source Selection Decision (SSD) at 10. The contracting officer, who also served as the source selection authority (SSA), determined that Explore Digits provided the best value, considering price and non-price factors. Id. at 16. CORMAC was notified of the agency’s award decision on March 1, 2023. Contracting Officer’s Statement (COS) at 7. The agency provided a brief explanation of the basis for award to CORMAC on March 8. AR, Tab 8, Brief Explanation.