Ipsos Public Affairs, LLC (36C77622R0126)

B-421717 Sep 05, 2023 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Ipsos Public Affairs, LLC, of Washington, D.C., protests the terms of request for proposals (RFP) No. 36C77622R0126, issued by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for survey support services. Ipsos challenges the agency's decision to set aside the procurement for small businesses. 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: Ipsos Public Affairs, LLC File: B-421717 Date: September 5, 2023 David S. Black, Esq., and Richard J. Ariel, Esq., Holland & Knight, LLP, for the protester. John W. Tangalos, Esq., and Rachel C. Fromm, Esq., Department of Veterans Affairs, 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 challenging the agency’s decision to issue solicitation as a small business set-aside is denied where the agency performed market research and made a reasonable business judgment about the likelihood of small business competition. DECISION Ipsos Public Affairs, LLC, of Washington, D.C., protests the terms of request for proposals (RFP) No. 36C77622R0126, issued by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for survey support services. Ipsos challenges the agency’s decision to set aside the procurement for small businesses. We deny the protest. BACKGROUND The RFP was issued on May 22, 2023, as a small business set-aside, under the corresponding size standard of North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code 541910 (market research and public opinion polling). See Agency Report (AR), Tab 5, RFP.[1] The RFP seeks proposals to provide survey support services for the Veterans Health Administration’s survey of healthcare experiences of patients (SHEP) program. AR, Tab 6, RFP, attach. A, Performance Work Statement (PWS) at 2. The RFP requires a contractor that has received approval to administer certain surveys from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, specifying that the requirement was for provisional or full hospital consumer assessment of healthcare providers and systems (HCAHPS) approval. Id. The SHEP program uses these surveys as “the industry standard approach” to measure patient experiences of care and the agency’s performance against private sector healthcare. Id. The RFP anticipates the award of a single indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract under which fixed-priced task orders will be issued, with an ordering period of five years and a maximum value of $99 million. Id. at 8. Ipsos is a large business and has been the incumbent prime contractor since 2008. Protest at 3; Contracting Officer’s Statement (COS) at 1.[2] Prior to issuing the RFP, the agency conducted a series of acquisition planning efforts since at least February 2022 that included: issuing notices and requests for information (RFI), conducting searches in the Vendor Information Pages database and the Small Business Administration’s small business database, reviewing the acquisition history and the HCAHPS approved vendor list, contacting small businesses, and receiving and reviewing responses. COS at 1‑3; see AR, Tab 8, Market Research Report. The agency’s market research resulted in responses from 13 vendors, including five small businesses. AR, Tab 8, Market Research Report at 8-9. The initial contracting officer analyzed the responses and solicited a review from the agency’s program office; while the program office noted some concerns about, for example, whether the small businesses would be able to meet certain experience requirements, it did not identify any of the small businesses as incapable of performing the agency’s requirement. Id. at 9-10, 14-16. The initial contracting officer found that three of the HCAHPS-approved small businesses were capable and that award could be made at a fair market price based on adequate competition, and thus concluded that issuing the RFP as a small business set-aside was proper.[3] Id. at 22-23. The agency also sought internal agency concurrence by submitting a small business program form that summarized the decision to set aside the procurement for small business. AR, Tab 9, VA Form 2268 Full Concurrence. Both the contracting activity’s small business liaison and a representative from the VA’s office of small and disadvantaged business utilization concurred with the set-aside decision. Id. On August 9, 2022, the agency issued a pre-solicitation notice indicating its intent to solicit the requirements as a small business set-aside. COS at 1, citing Protest, exh. B, Pre-Solicitation Notice.