Taylor Made Transportation Services, Inc. (36C24524R0044)

B-423117.3 May 28, 2025 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Taylor Made Transportation Services, Inc., a small business of Baltimore, Maryland, protests the reevaluation of its proposal, its elimination from competition, and the termination of its award for the convenience of the government under request for proposals (RFP) No. 36C24524R0044, issued by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for van shuttle transportation services. The protester argues that the agency unreasonably reevaluated its proposal as technically unacceptable, and thus, the agency's decision to terminate the protester's contract for convenience was improper. We deny the protest. View Decision Decision Matter of: Taylor Made Transportation Services, Inc. File: B-423117.3 Date: May 28, 2025 Jeremy C.B. Wyatt, Esq., and Andrew P. Gorini, Esq., Harrison Law Group, for the protester. Natica Chapman Neely, Esq., Department of Veterans Affairs, for the agency. Emily R. O’Hara, Esq., and Peter H. Tran, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Protest challenging the agency’s termination of protester’s awarded contract is denied where, upon reevaluation, the agency reasonably found the protester’s proposal to be technically unacceptable. DECISION Taylor Made Transportation Services, Inc., a small business of Baltimore, Maryland, protests the reevaluation of its proposal, its elimination from competition, and the termination of its award for the convenience of the government under request for proposals (RFP) No. 36C24524R0044, issued by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for van shuttle transportation services. The protester argues that the agency unreasonably reevaluated its proposal as technically unacceptable, and thus, the agency’s decision to terminate the protester’s contract for convenience was improper. We deny the protest. BACKGROUND The agency issued the solicitation on May 14, 2024, using the procedures of Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) parts 12 and 15, as a small business set-aside.[1] Contracting Officer’s Statement (COS) at 1; Agency Report (AR), Exh. 16, RFP at 152.[2] The VA sought shuttle transportation services for VA beneficiaries and employees within the VA Maryland healthcare system. RFP at 175. The agency anticipated award of a fixed-price contract for one base year and four option years. Id. at 79. Award was to be made on a lowest-priced, technically acceptable (LPTA) basis, considering the following evaluation factors: technical, past performance, and price. Id. at 151. The technical factor was comprised of four subfactors: (1) large scale shuttle transportation experience; (2) company stability/longevity; (3) company safety record/program; and (4) personnel. Id. The VA initially made award to Taylor Made on October 9, 2024, which resulted in a protest to our Office filed by RTW Management, an unsuccessful offeror. Memorandum of Law (MOL) at 3; COS at 1. RTW challenged the acceptability of Taylor Made’s proposal. AR, Exh. 6, First RTW Protest. In response, the agency notified our Office of its intent to take corrective action by reevaluating Taylor Made’s proposal. MOL at 4. Relevant here, the agency did not terminate the contract to Taylor Made but suspended performance pending completion of the reevaluation. As a result of the agency’s proposed corrective action, we dismissed that protest as academic on November 20, 2024. RTW Management, B‑423117.1, Nov. 20, 2024 (unpublished decision). On November 27, the VA reevaluated Taylor Made’s proposal and found it, again, to be technically acceptable. MOL at 4; AR, Exh. 2, Revised Source Selection Decision (SSD) at 3. That award decision resulted in a second protest by RTW. AR, Exh. 8, Second RTW Protest; MOL at 4. On January 24, 2025, the VA notified our Office that it intended to take corrective action in response to the second protest. MOL at 5. The VA explained that as a result of GAO’s request for additional information following submission of the agency report, the contracting officer reevaluated Taylor Made’s proposal and found that the proposal did not, in fact, meet the RFP’s requirements and was, therefore, technically unacceptable. AR, Exh. 10, Contracting Officer’s Reevaluation Determination at 1; MOL at 5. Based on this finding, the VA advised that it would take corrective action by terminating Taylor Made’s contract and evaluating the proposal of the next lowest-priced offeror (RTW) to determine whether that proposal met the RFP’s technical requirements. RTW Management, B-423117.2, Jan. 30, 2025 (unpublished decision) at 1. As a result, we dismissed the protest as academic. Id. On February 13, the VA notified Taylor Made that its contract would be terminated because the firm’s proposal had been deemed technically unacceptable upon reevaluation. AR, Exh. 11; Termination for Convenience.