Amentum Services, Inc. (19AQMM19R0173)

B-421614 Jul 24, 2023 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Amentum Services, Inc., of Chantilly, Virginia, protests the Department of State's award of a sole-source contract under the Small Business Administration's (SBA) section 8(a) program to MEC Energy Services, LLC, of New Town, North Dakota, for operations and maintenance services. Amentum, a large business, raises various allegations about the award to MEC, a tribal 8(a) small business. We dismiss the protest. View Decision DOCUMENT FOR PUBLIC RELEASE The decision issued on the date below was subject to a GAO Protective Order. The entire decision has been approved for public release. Decision Matter of: Amentum Services, Inc. File: B-421614 Date: July 24, 2023 Robert Nichols, Esq., Michael Bhargava, Esq., Sam Van Kopp, Esq., and Madison Plummer, Esq., Nichols Liu LLP, for the protester. Kathleen D. Martin, Esq., Department of State, for the agency. April Y. Shields, Esq., and Christina Sklarew, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Protest by a large business protester challenging the agency’s award of a sole-source contract under the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) 8(a) program is dismissed where the protester acknowledges that it does not challenge whether the requirement was properly and reasonably offered to SBA by the agency and accepted by SBA into the 8(a) program. DECISION Amentum Services, Inc., of Chantilly, Virginia, protests the Department of State’s award of a sole-source contract under the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) section 8(a) program[1] to MEC Energy Services, LLC, of New Town, North Dakota, for operations and maintenance services. Amentum, a large business, raises various allegations about the award to MEC, a tribal 8(a) small business. We dismiss the protest. BACKGROUND This protest concerns the Department of State’s efforts to seek a contractor for various staffing support services for certain U.S. embassies and consulates in Europe and Asia, and for the offices of the United States Mission to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the military delegation at the new NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. Agency Report (AR), Tab 1, Solicitation at 5;[2] Contracting Officer’s Statement (COS) at 2. The contractor would be required to provide American workers with top-secret security clearances from the agency to perform various duties such as operations, maintenance, repair, custodial, administrative, clerical, and other related functions. Solicitation at 12. Amentum describes itself as the “35-year incumbent on this program” through its now-wholly owned subsidiary PAE Government Services, Inc.; most recently, it has performed these requirements through a contract awarded in 2015. After the term of that contract ended in 2020, the protester has continued to perform the requirements under non-competitively awarded extensions of its expired contract. Protest at 5; COS at 1. Beginning in early June 2022, the agency commenced a series of acquisition planning efforts, which included: conducting small business market research to determine whether the requirements could be met at a fair and reasonable price by a small disadvantaged business firm; consulting with the agency’s Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization; and developing a solicitation. COS at 2-6. Through these efforts, the agency identified MEC, LLC, a tribal 8(a) small business, as interested in performing the requirements. In November, the agency sent solicitation No. 19AQMM23R0034 to MEC. Thereafter, MEC submitted a proposal, which the agency found met the solicitation’s technical and cost requirements. Id. at 3; see generally Solicitation. On March 29, 2023, the agency sent a letter to the SBA, requesting approval under the Small Business Act and the FAR to negotiate a contract for these requirements with MEC. COS at 3-4; AR, Tab 4, Agency Letter to SBA. On March 30, the SBA accepted the agency’s offer of the requirements for the 8(a) program. The SBA accepted the requirements on behalf of MEC and authorized the agency to negotiate directly with MEC. AR, Tab 5, SBA Resp. to Agency’s Letter. On April 3, the agency awarded contract No. 19AQMM23C0047 to MEC. The contract is a time-and-materials, labor hour services contract for an initial 1-year period of performance, with an estimated cost of $28,057,665. COS at 4; see also AR, Tab 4, Agency Letter to SBA.