721 Medical Center Property, LLC (0NC2145)

B-423227,B-423227.2 Mar 12, 2025 Jump To FULL REPORT VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights 721 Medical Center Property, LLC (MCP), located in Wilmington, North Carolina, protests the terms of request for lease proposals (RLP) No. 0NC2145, issued by the General Services Administration (GSA), Public Buildings Service, to lease office space for three federal tenant agencies in a single location. The protester contends that the solicitation's setback restrictions and co-location requirement are unreasonable and unduly restrict competition. We deny the protest. View Decision Decision Matter of: 721 Medical Center Property, LLC File: B-423227; B-423227.2 Date: March 12, 2025 Diana Parks, Esq., and Hadeel N. Masseoud, Esq., Curran Legal Services Group, Inc., for the protester. Jessica A. Gunzel, Esq., Adrienne E. Washington, Esq., and Tammi Snyder-Queen, Esq., General Services Administration, for the agency. Thomas J. Warren, Esq., and Alexander O. Levine, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Protest challenging solicitation requirements as unduly restrictive of competition is denied where the record supports the agency’s position that the requirements are reasonably necessary to meet the agency’s needs. DECISION 721 Medical Center Property, LLC (MCP), located in Wilmington, North Carolina, protests the terms of request for lease proposals (RLP) No. 0NC2145, issued by the General Services Administration (GSA), Public Buildings Service, to lease office space for three federal tenant agencies in a single location. The protester contends that the solicitation’s setback restrictions and co-location requirement are unreasonable and unduly restrict competition. We deny the protest. BACKGROUND GSA is conducting this procurement for leased office space on behalf of three federal agencies organized under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS): the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The RLP seeks contiguous office space in Wilmington, North Carolina, comprising 38,118 American National Standards Institute/Building Owners and Managers Association (ANSI/BOMA) Occupant Area (ABOA) square feet.[1] Contracting Officer Statement (COS) at 1-2; Memorandum of Law (MOL) at 1; Agency Report (AR), Exh. 1, RLP at 4. Currently, ICE, USCG, and CPB lease 20,791 ABOA square feet of space in the building owned by MCP, which is located at 721 Medical Center Drive in Wilmington, North Carolina (MCP property).[2] COS at 1. Directly adjacent to, and sharing a property line with, the MCP property is a children’s daycare facility. Id.; AR, Exh. 24, Map of 721 Medical Center Drive. In August 2021, the GSA lease contracting officer began working with representatives from DHS, ICE, USCG and CBP to develop the RLP requirements. COS at 1. During this process, DHS headquarters informed GSA that co-locating ICE, USCG, and CBP in a building with increased space was necessary to maximize the sharing of interagency support and collaboration spaces. Id. In addition, DHS noted that co-locating the agencies will permit ICE, USCG, and CBP to share conference rooms, training rooms, fitness, security, and information technology spaces--and would result in significant cost savings. Id. Finally, DHS notified GSA that the funding available for this procurement is suitable for a single building where the three agencies are co-located. Id. On December 1, 2022, GSA posted an advertisement on SAM.gov (System for Award Management) seeking 36,772 ABOA square feet of contiguous space to accommodate the collective increased space needs of the three agencies. COS at 2; AR, Exh. 16, Presolicitation Notice. GSA received [DELETED] expressions of interest in response to the advertisement with [DELETED] properties later withdrawing. COS at 2; AR, Exh. 21, Market Survey Report at 4. On February 16, 2023, GSA conducted a market survey of the remaining [DELETED] properties, including the MCP property, and toured the interested properties with representatives from ICE, USCG, and CBP. COS at 2; AR, Exh. 21, Market Survey Report at 4-5. Following the February market survey, ICE informed GSA that the RLP needed to include a setback requirement prescribing the minimum distance the offered building could be from certain “protected areas,” such as daycare facilities. COS at 2; AR, Exh. 17, ICE Requirements Email at 1-8; AR, Exh. 25, ICE Stmt. at ¶ 3. Representatives from ICE advised GSA that the requirement was necessary to comply with ICE’s facility design guide and with a 2021 memorandum signed by DHS Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas establishing guidelines for avoiding ICE and CBP enforcement actions in or near “protected areas.” COS at 2; AR, Exh. 17, ICE Requirements Email at 4; AR, Exh. 25, ICE Stmt. at ¶¶ 2-3.