Pueo Business Solutions, LLC (36C10B23Q0450)

B-422105 Jan 03, 2024 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Pueo Business Solutions, LLC (Pueo), a service-disabled veteran-owned small business (SDVOSB) of Fredericksburg, Virginia, protests the issuance of a task order to Maveris, LLC, an SDVOSB of Arlington, Virginia, under request for quotations (RFQ) No. 36C10B23Q0450, issued by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), for cybersecurity services. The protester alleges the VA failed to adequately consider and mitigate a conflict of interest, and also challenges the agency's evaluation of its quotation. 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: Pueo Business Solutions, LLC File: B-422105 Date: January 3, 2024 Ryan C. Bradel, Esq., and Michael E. Hatch, Esq., Ward & Berry, PLLC, for the protester. |Stephanie Harden, Esq., Elizabeth Jochum, Esq., Michael Montalbano, Esq., David L. Bodner, Esq., and Oliver Jury, Esq., Blank Rome LLP, for Maveris, LLC, the intervenor. Reza Behinia, Esq., and Peter S. Kozlowski, Esq., Department of Veterans Affairs, for the agency. Michael P. Grogan, Esq., and Evan D. Wesser, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST 1. Protest that awardee had unfair competitive advantage stemming from its having hired a former agency employee is denied where the agency investigated the issue and reasonably concluded that the awardee did not gain an unfair advantage. 2. Protest challenging the evaluation of the protester’s technical quotation is denied where the evaluation was reasonable and consistent with the terms of the solicitation. DECISION Pueo Business Solutions, LLC (Pueo), a service-disabled veteran-owned small business (SDVOSB) of Fredericksburg, Virginia, protests the issuance of a task order to Maveris, LLC, an SDVOSB of Arlington, Virginia, under request for quotations (RFQ) No. 36C10B23Q0450, issued by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), for cybersecurity services. The protester alleges the VA failed to adequately consider and mitigate a conflict of interest, and also challenges the agency’s evaluation of its quotation. We deny the protest. BACKGROUND The agency issued the solicitation on August 16, 2023, pursuant to the procedures of Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) subpart 8.4, to SDVOSB firms holding the General Services Administration’s multiple-award federal supply schedule (FSS) contract for highly adaptive cybersecurity services (category 54151). Agency Report (AR), Tab 5B, Amendment 002 to RFQ at 1, 227.[1] The solicitation contemplated the issuance of a single task order, with fixed-price contract line items, with a nine-month base period of performance and four 1‑year option periods. Id. at 66. Through the RFQ, the VA sought information and cybersecurity support services for the agency’s cybersecurity operations center (CSOC) to assist in developing and providing enterprise-wide information and cybersecurity and network defense services. Id. The performance work statement (PWS) identified specific functional areas (and corresponding tasks in those areas) the contractor would perform, to include: program management; vulnerability scanning; security and external communications management; cybersecurity threat intelligence; cybersecurity incident response; cybersecurity analytics; cyber threat intelligence threat analysis; cybersecurity technical services; and operations center requirements and development. Id. at 60-192 The solicitation advised that award would be made on a best-value tradeoff basis, considering three factors, listed in descending order of importance: (1) technical; (2) past performance; and (3) price. Id. at 233. As relevant here, under the technical factor, vendors were to provide a detailed approach to address eight questions and hypothetical scenarios, which the agency described as technical discriminators. Id. at 229-230. The VA would consider (a) the extent to which a vendor’s quotation demonstrated a clear understanding of solving the problems identified in the technical discriminators and meeting or exceeding the requirements in the PWS, and (b) the feasibility of the offered approach. Id. at 233. The solicitation advised that the non-price factors, combined, “are significantly more important than the Price[.]” Id. The RFQ further provided that “[t]o receive consideration for award, a rating of no less than ‘Acceptable’ must be achieved for the Technical Factor.”[2] Id. The agency received multiple quotations by the August 28 deadline for receipt of quotations, to include quotations from Pueo and Maveris.