DSoft Technology, Engineering & Analysis, Inc. (36C10B23Q0434)

B-422254 Feb 26, 2024 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights DSoft Technology, Engineering & Analysis, Inc., of Colorado Springs, Colorado, protests the issuance of a task order to AdaptiveVets, Inc., of West Melbourne, Florida, under request for quotations (RFQ) No. 36C10B23Q0434, issued by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), National Surgery Office (NSO), for technical application support for NSO systems. The protester challenges the reasonableness of the agency's evaluation of the awardee's quotation and asserts that the contracting officer's failure to pursue a challenge to the awardee's status at the Small Business Administration (SBA) was an abuse of discretion. We dismiss 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: DSoft Technology, Engineering & Analysis, Inc. File: B-422254 Date: February 26, 2024 Jerome S. Gabig, Esq., Government Procurement Lawyer, LLC, for the protester. Devon E. Hewitt, Esq., and Matthew L. Nicholson, Esq., Potomac Law Group, PLLC, for AdaptiveVets, Inc., the intervenor. Ronald J. Bakay, Esq., and Tobias Hunziker, Esq., Department of Veterans Affairs, for the agency. Kenneth Kilgour, Esq., and Jennifer D. Westfall-McGrail, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST 1. Allegations based on information contained in the award notice are dismissed as untimely because they were untimely asserted in the agency-level protest; the debriefing exception to GAO’s timeliness regulations is not applicable to agency-level protests. 2. Protest that the contracting officer unreasonably failed to challenge the status of the awardee as a service-disabled veteran-owned small business (SDVOSB) at the Small Business Administration is dismissed where the information giving rise to the allegation that the awardee was ineligible to be considered an SDVOSB was not apparent on the face of the awardee’s quotation. DECISION DSoft Technology, Engineering & Analysis, Inc., of Colorado Springs, Colorado, protests the issuance of a task order to AdaptiveVets, Inc., of West Melbourne, Florida, under request for quotations (RFQ) No. 36C10B23Q0434, issued by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), National Surgery Office (NSO), for technical application support for NSO systems. The protester challenges the reasonableness of the agency’s evaluation of the awardee’s quotation and asserts that the contracting officer’s failure to pursue a challenge to the awardee’s status at the Small Business Administration (SBA) was an abuse of discretion. We dismiss the protest. BACKGROUND This RFQ, set aside for service-disabled veteran-owned small business (SDVOSB) concerns, sought a contractor to provide “technical application support for NSO Systems and Transplant and Web Tools in developing, supporting and updating applications for the NSO.” Agency Report (AR), Tab 5, RFQ at 47. The agency conducted the acquisition under the General Services Administration’s Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) program pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) subpart 8.4, and limited the competition to vendors holding contracts under FSS multiple award schedule 54151S-Information Technology Professional Services. Contracting Officer’s Statement (COS) at 1. The RFQ anticipated the issuance of a single fixed-price task order with a 1-year base period and four 1-year options. RFQ at 105. The task order would be issued to the vendor whose quotation offered the best value to the agency, considering three factors: technical, past performance, and price. Id. The technical factor was significantly more important than the past performance factor; combined, those two factors were significantly more important than price. Id. NSO received timely quotations from five vendors, including the protester and the awardee. AR, Tab 10, Notice of Award at 1. The evaluation team evaluated the quotations against the criteria set forth in the RFQ and the source selection plan. COS at 2. The contracting officer, who was also the source selection authority (SSA) for this procurement, reviewed “the detailed written evaluation reports that included a thorough write up of each [vendor’s] evaluation results.” Id. The SSA noted that NSO assessed DSoft’s and AdaptiveVets’s quotations the same adjectival ratings under the technical and past performance factors--good and low risk, respectively. Id. AdaptiveVets’s total evaluated price of $2,492,318 was lower than DSoft’s total evaluated price of $4,514,073. Id. at 2-3. After a comparative assessment of the quotations, the SSA determined that AdaptiveVets’s quotation provided the best overall value to the agency, and the SSA issued the task order to AdaptiveVets. Id. at 3. The agency provided DSoft an award notice on October 3, 2023.