HPI Federal, LLC (RFQ-QEB2024B)

B-422583 Aug 09, 2024 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights HPI Federal, LLC, of Washington, D.C., protests the selection of Transource Services Corp., of Phoenix, Arizona, under request for quotations (RFQ) No. QEB2024B, issued by the Department of the Air Force for the provision of certain information technology (IT) products. The protester contends that the agency unreasonably determined that Transource's quotation complied with RFQ requirements for Trade Agreements Act (TAA) compliance. We sustain the protest in part and deny it in part. View Decision 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. Matter of: HPI Federal, LLC File: B-422583 Date: August 9, 2024 Dawn E. Stern, Esq., Christie M. Alvarez, Esq., and Andrew W. Current, Esq., DLA Piper LLP (US), for the protester. Jonathan T. Williams, Esq., Katherine B. Burrows, Esq., Eric A. Valle, Esq., and Dozier L. Gardner, Jr., Esq., PilieroMazza PLLC, for Transource Services Corp., the intervenor. Erika Whelan Retta, Esq., Colonel Patricia Wiegman-Lenz, and Major Danelle McGinnis, Department of the Air Force, for the agency. Nathaniel S. Canfield, Esq., and Evan D. Wesser, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST 1. Protest challenging agency's acceptance of representation of Trade Agreements Act (TAA) compliance for certain quoted items as unreasonable is sustained where the representation does not state that the end products to be delivered are U.S.-made, qualifying country, or designated country end products, but only states that the quoted items are assembled in a designated country. 2. Protest challenging agency's acceptance of representation of TAA compliance for another quoted item as unreasonable is denied where the quotation states the country of origin of the quoted item and the protester has not identified any information that reasonably should have caused the agency to believe that the firm will not provide compliant end products. DECISION HPI Federal, LLC, of Washington, D.C., protests the selection of Transource Services Corp., of Phoenix, Arizona, under request for quotations (RFQ) No. QEB2024B, issued by the Department of the Air Force for the provision of certain information technology (IT) products. The protester contends that the agency unreasonably determined that Transource's quotation complied with RFQ requirements for Trade Agreements Act (TAA) compliance. We sustain the protest in part and deny it in part. BACKGROUND The procurement at issue took place under the agency's Client Computing Solutions III (CCS3) enterprise program, which facilitates the purchase of computing devices, associated peripherals, and incidental services utilizing General Services Administration (GSA) Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) contracts. Contracting Officer's Statement (COS) at 2. Under the CCS3 program, the agency has established blanket purchase agreements (BPA) with seven vendors, including the protester and intervenor here, under their respective schedule contracts pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) subpart 8.4. Id. The agency periodically defines and competes its IT requirements among the CCS3 BPA holders, issuing an RFQ for various product categories. Id. Following evaluation of quotations, the agency selects a BPA holder to provide products under each product category, which agency personnel can order for the period of the buying cycle, which typically is six months. Id. at 23. The agency issued the RFQ on February 29, 2024, and amended it once. Id. at 34; Agency Report (AR), Tab 9, Amended RFQ. Among the product categories included in the RFQ were 55inch class display (55CD); 65inch class display (65CD); and 75inch class display (75CD) monitors; and office notebooks, including one mandatory and one optional docking station. Id. at 1; AR, Tab 10, Amended Technical and Price Response Template (TPRT) at 1. For those and other product categories, the RFQ provided that the agency would evaluate quoted products for compliance with mandatory specifications and requirements, with only compliant products being eligible for selection. Amended RFQ at 3. The agency then would make selections based upon the lowest total worldwide cost for each product category.[1] Id. As relevant here, the RFQ required vendors to “provide a confirmation that the [quoted] end product for each product category is [TAA] compliant under the terms of this solicitation as required by [the vendor's] GSA schedule contract.”[2] Id. at 2. The RFQ also included a supply chain risk management provision, which required vendors to identify the country of origin for certain component items of end products. Id.