Magellan Federal, Inc. (W91QVN-23-R-0068)

B-422273 Feb 21, 2024 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Magellan Federal, of Arlington, Virginia, protests the award of a contract to Dynamic Systems Technology, Inc. (DysTech), of Fairfax, Virginia, under request for proposals (RFP) No. W91QVN-23-R-0068, issued by the Department of the Army for military human resources services to support Army soldiers, dependents, civilians, and retirees in South Korea. The protester challenges the agency's evaluation of the offerors' technical proposals, the price evaluation, and the award decision. We dismiss the protest. View Decision Decision Matter of: Magellan Federal File: B-422273 Date: February 21, 2024 James M. White, Esq., Marshall & White, PLLC, for the protester. Shane J. McCall, Esq., Nicole D. Pottroff, Esq., John L. Holtz, Esq., Stephanie L. Ellis, Esq., and Gregory P. Weber, Esq., Koprince McCall Pottroff LLC, for Dynamic Systems, Technology, Inc., the intervenor. Captain Blaine L. Hutchison, Department of the Army, for the agency. Michelle Litteken, Esq., and Christina Sklarew, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Protest challenging evaluation of the offerors’ proposals is dismissed where protester’s allegations are based on speculation and conjecture and are legally and factually insufficient to establish valid bases of protest. DECISION Magellan Federal, of Arlington, Virginia, protests the award of a contract to Dynamic Systems Technology, Inc. (DysTech), of Fairfax, Virginia, under request for proposals (RFP) No. W91QVN-23-R-0068, issued by the Department of the Army for military human resources services to support Army soldiers, dependents, civilians, and retirees in South Korea. The protester challenges the agency’s evaluation of the offerors’ technical proposals, the price evaluation, and the award decision. We dismiss the protest. BACKGROUND The Army issued the solicitation on August 9, 2023, pursuant to the procedures of Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) part 12, seeking a contractor to provide military human resource services for soldiers, command-sponsored dependents, civilian employees, and retirees assigned to the Army in the Republic of Korea. Req. for Dismissal, exh. 1, RFP at 1, 50; Protest, exh. 11, Performance Work Statement (PWS) at 2.[1] The solicitation contemplated the award of a firm-fixed-price contract with a 60‑day phase-in period, 10-month base period, and two 12-month option periods. PWS at 2-3. The solicitation established that award would be made on the basis of a best-value tradeoff considering three factors, listed in descending order of importance: technical, past performance, and price. RFP at 54. The solicitation provided that the nonprice factors, when combined, were significantly more important than price. Id. The solicitation explained that the technical factor consisted of the following equally weighted subfactors: personnel qualification, technical approach, staffing plan,[2] and prior experience.[3] Id. As relevant here, for the personnel qualification subfactor, the RFP required offerors to provide a resume and letter of commitment for each key personnel position. RFP at 54. The PWS identified seven key personnel positions and the minimum qualifications for each. PWS at 51-52. For example, the PWS explained that the senior transition analyst must have at least 5 years of experience in military human resource transition services within the last 10 years and have working knowledge of the agency’s transition processing system and a web-based system for performing personnel actions, identified as eMILPO. Id. at 51. With respect to the price evaluation, the solicitation established that the Army would evaluate proposals for completeness, price reasonableness, and unbalanced pricing. RFP at 58. The RFP stated that the total evaluated price would include the base period, option periods, and the option to extend services period provided by FAR clause 52.217-8. Id. The solicitation explained that the agency would evaluate the option to extend service period by adding one half of the offeror’s proposed price for the final option period to the offeror’s total proposed price. Id. The Army received and evaluated five timely proposals, and it selected DysTech’s proposal for award. Req. for Dismissal, exh. 2, Unsuccessful Offeror Notice at 1. The Army notified Magellan that its proposal was unsuccessful on December 4, 2023, and subsequently provided the protester with a written debriefing.[4] Id.; Protest, exh. 7, Debriefing. In the debriefing, the contracting officer wrote: “it was my decision that the proposal submitted by Dynamic Systems Technology, Inc. (DysTech) represented the best overall value to the government. DysTech had the highest ratings of all offerors on both Technical and Past Performance Evaluation Factors. DysTech also had the lowest total evaluated price.” Protest, exh.