CIYIS, LLC

B-423146.2 Nov 17, 2025 Jump To FULL REPORT VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights CIYIS, LLC, a small business of Atlanta, Georgia, protests the decision of the Department of the Navy, Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific, not to award CIYIS a contract under request for proposals (RFP) No. N66001-24-R-0048, for information technology (IT) services. The protester challenges the agency's evaluation of its technical proposal. We deny the protest. View Decision Decision Matter of: CIYIS, LLC File: B-423146.2 Date: November 17, 2025 Christian Y. Sellu for the protester. Tracey L. Ferguson, Esq., Department of the Navy, for the agency. Heather Weiner, Esq., and Jennifer D. Westfall-McGrail, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Protest challenging agency evaluation of protester's technical proposal is denied where the record reflects that the evaluation was reasonable and consistent with the terms of the solicitation. DECISION CIYIS, LLC, a small business of Atlanta, Georgia, protests the decision of the Department of the Navy, Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific, not to award CIYIS a contract under request for proposals (RFP) No. N66001-24-R-0048, for information technology (IT) services. The protester challenges the agency's evaluation of its technical proposal. We deny the protest. BACKGROUND Using the procedures of Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) part 15, the Navy issued the RFP on September 20, 2024, as a small business set-aside, seeking proactive and enhanced services for Microsoft products and cloud services. Agency Report (AR), Tab 1, RFP at 27. The solicitation contemplated award of multiple fixed-price, indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contracts for an ordering period of five years. AR, Tab 1, RFP, amend. 0002 at 180.[1] The RFP provided that proposals would be evaluated using a three-step methodology: step one (evaluation of acceptability),[2] step two (evaluation of three factors--technical, organizational experience, and past performance), and step three (the source selection decision). Id. The solicitation explained that to be considered technically acceptable for step two, a proposal must receive a rating of at least acceptable for the technical and organizational experience factors, and a rating of neutral confidence, satisfactory confidence, or substantial confidence for the past performance factor. Id. The RFP provided for award to all responsible offerors submitting technically acceptable proposals whom “the Contracting Officer has no reason to believe would be likely to offer other than fair and reasonable pricing.”[3] Id. at 180. In addition, the solicitation advised that, in making the award decisions, the agency would not perform a tradeoff analysis. Id. at 180, 183. As relevant to the protest, under the organizational experience factor, the RFP required offerors to complete and submit an organizational experience matrix to indicate the breadth, depth, and relevance of their organizational experience in six key areas. Id. at 139. The agency received proposals from sixteen offerors, including CIYIS. COS/MOL at 5; AR, Tab 4, Business Clearance Memorandum (BCM) at 272. After evaluating proposals, the Navy assigned the following ratings to CIYIS's proposal:[4]   CIYIS Acceptability of Offer Acceptable Technical Acceptable Organizational Experience Unacceptable Past Performance Neutral Confidence AR, Tab 4, BCM at 279. Under the organizational experience factor, CIYIS's proposal was assigned one weakness, two significant weaknesses, and three deficiencies. AR, Tab 3, Source Selection Evaluation Board (SSEB) Report at 261-264. Based on this assessment, the agency found that CIYIS's proposal was unacceptable for this factor, noting that the “overall depth of involvement across the Government's Key Area requirements does not meet [the] requirements of the solicitation.” Id. at 264. Due to the unacceptable rating for the organizational experience factor, the agency concluded that it could not award a contract to CIYIS.[5] AR, Tab 4, BCM at 272-273. The Navy posted notification of its award decision on June 27, 2025. COS/MOL at 1. After requesting and receiving a debriefing that concluded on July 15, 2025, CIYIS filed this protest with our Office. AR, Tab 5, Notice of Award and Debrief. DISCUSSION CIYIS challenges the Navy's evaluation of CIYIS's organizational experience as unacceptable. Specifically, the protester argues that the agency's evaluation was unreasonable because it was based on an improper application of the RFP's recency criteria and was not conducted in accordance with the terms of the solicitation. For the reasons discussed below, we find the protester's arguments provide no basis to sustain the protest.[6] The evaluation of an offeror's proposal is a matter within the agency's discretion.