J.E. Federal Enterprises, LLC (HT001124R0073)

B-422916 Dec 04, 2024 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights J.E. Federal Enterprises, LLC, of Auburn, Alabama, protests the terms of request for proposals (RFP) No. HT001124R0073, issued by the Department of Defense, Defense Health Agency, for a clinical decision support (CDS) tool. The protester argues that various terms of the RFP are overly restrictive, unclear, and unreasonable. We deny the protest. View Decision Decision Matter of: J.E. Federal Enterprises, LLC File: B-422916 Date: December 4, 2024 Shane J. McCall, Esq., Nicole D. Pottroff, Esq., John L. Holtz, Esq., Gregory P. Weber, Esq., Stephanie L. Ellis, Esq., and Annie E. Birney, Esq., Koprince, McCall & Pottroff, LLC, for the protester. Nathaniel H. Sears, Esq., and Matthew Vasquez, Esq., Defense Health Agency, 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 various terms of a solicitation as overly restrictive, unclear, and unreasonable is denied where the record shows that the terms are reasonably related to the agency’s needs and provide offerors with sufficient detail to enable them to compete intelligently and on a relatively equal basis. DECISION J.E. Federal Enterprises, LLC, of Auburn, Alabama, protests the terms of request for proposals (RFP) No. HT001124R0073, issued by the Department of Defense, Defense Health Agency, for a clinical decision support (CDS) tool. The protester argues that various terms of the RFP are overly restrictive, unclear, and unreasonable. We deny the protest. BACKGROUND On August 6, 2024, the agency issued the RFP as a combined synopsis/solicitation pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation parts 12 (acquisition of commercial items) and 15 (negotiated procedures).[1] Agency Report (AR), Tab 30, RFP SAM.gov Contract Opportunity Details; AR, Tab 31, RFP Combined Synopsis/Solicitation. The RFP seeks a contractor to provide a commercial-off-the-shelf, “comprehensive, current, evidence-based, and peer-reviewed CDS tool to be used at the point of care” and requires the CDS tool to “cover a broad range of medical disorders and diseases and provide recommendations, guidance, and advice to providers in identifying, treating, and managing the disease, disorder, or issue at hand.” AR, Tab 45, RFP Statement of Work (SOW) at 1-2; see also AR, Tab 31, RFP Combined Synopsis/Solicitation at 1. The RFP further explains that the CDS tool will be used by Defense Health Agency providers “with a wide range of education, training, and experience,” and is “a particularly critical resource for junior physicians, medics, and corpsmen who are often the sole health care provider in remote locations.” AR, Tab 45, RFP SOW at 1. In this regard, according to the RFP, the CDS tool is “critical to the delivery of safe, effective, and timely health care.” Id. The RFP contemplates the award of a single fixed-price contract to be performed over one 8‑month base period and four 12‑month option periods. AR, Tab 31, RFP Combined Synopsis/Solicitation at 1. The RFP provides that award will be made on a best-value tradeoff basis considering a technical factor and a price factor. The RFP explains that the technical factor “is significantly more important than price” and includes two subfactors, accessibility, and quality of content, listed in increasing order of importance. AR, Tab 34, RFP Evaluation Criteria at 1‑2. The technical factor’s accessibility subfactor would be evaluated on an acceptable/unacceptable basis. This evaluation would consider the offeror’s response to the accessibility requirements in the SOW, including those “which are critical [ ] in the military operational environment.” AR, Tab 34, RFP Evaluation Criteria at 2. Of note, SOW requirement 2.3.5 requires the vendor to provide Digital Video Discs (DVDs), as follows: The vendor shall provide a fully tested, functional, and of commercial-quality DVD containing all the same content as the online version in its entirety. Due to the lack of Internet connectivity on ships and deployed, remote locations, this requirement is of utmost importance. The DVD is also critical for use when, for operation security, providers are prohibited from carrying devices that can emit a “ping” or location signal (e.g., smart phone). The DVD shall be updated at a minimum three (3) times per year and be in alignment with the online updates. AR, Tab 45, RFP SOW at 7. The RFP requires offerors to deliver five DVDs for proposal evaluation and explains that the agency “will search, in the offeror’s DVD, a total of thirty-five (35) clinical queries on common diseases and clinical controversies on the content areas described” in the SOW to “evaluate the quality of the content of the offeror’s proposed solution.” AR, Tab 34, RFP Evaluation Criteria at 2; see also AR, Tab 33, RFP Instructions to Offerors at 2, 4.