B-400721; B-400722, Capitol Drywall Supply, Inc., January 12, 2009
Decision
Matter of: Capitol Drywall Supply, Inc.
Kenneth
E. O'Quinn for the protester.
Howard E. Strackbein, Esq., Army Corps of Engineers, for the agency.
Susan K. McAuliffe, Esq., and Christine S. Melody, Esq.,
Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the
decision.
DIGEST
Protest challenging agency’s
evaluation of protester’s proposal is denied where the record establishes that
the evaluation was reasonable and consistent with the solicitation’s evaluation
criteria.
DECISION
Capitol Drywall Supply, Inc. (CDS)
of
The RFP, issued on December 14, 2007, as a competitive section
8(a) set-aside, provided a detailed statement of work describing the
performance requirements, including immediate response, timely production,
delivery and reporting, information management, a safety and health program,
staging of materials, an automated tracking system and direct communication
with drivers, as well as a liaison for agency contacts. RFP at 8-16.
Up to four awards of indefinite- delivery/indefinite-quantity contracts
were to be made for a base year and 4 option years; the agency’s needs were to
be specified in future task orders to be competed among the awardees.
Proposal strengths and weaknesses were to be evaluated
under the following four equally important technical factors: technical approach (including evaluation of the
firm’s understanding of and proposed method of meeting the referenced statement
of work requirements, as well as its proposed quality control and identified
benefits from subcontractor relationships); delivery (including evaluation of planned
procedures to expeditiously obtain and deliver varying materials to remote
locations and multiple sites or states simultaneously, as well as proposed delivery
documentation and reporting procedures); experience (including evaluation of five
of the firm’s recent contracts with dollar values of at least $1 million that
are similar in size, scope, and complexity to the current statement of work requirements
demonstrating the ability to, for instance, respond rapidly, process multiple
actions at once, control costs, timely deliver, and resolve problems with
creative solutions); and past performance, including an evaluation of the relevance
of those five contracts, as well as the results of customer surveys completed
by the offeror’s past performance references.
Six offers submitted in response to the solicitation were evaluated. The CDS proposal, which was the second lowest-priced proposal received, was rated lowest for technical merit due, primarily, to a lack of detailed information describing the firm’s proposed procedures to perform the statement of work requirements, as well as a failure to demonstrate experience performing contracts similar in size, scope, and complexity, and which were valued at $1 million or more. Finding that the lowest-priced and third lowest-priced proposals, which received significantly higher technical ratings than the protester’s proposal, represented the best value to the agency, awards were made to those firms; with respect to the latter award, the agency concluded in a price/technical tradeoff determination that the higher technical merit of the higher-priced proposal warranted the payment of the price premium associated with it. Following a debriefing in which the agency reports it explained to CDS that its proposal lacked sufficient detail to demonstrate either the firm’s understanding of, or its proposed methodology to meet, the statement of work requirements, CDS protested the agency’s evaluation to our Office.
CDS generally contends that the agency unreasonably
evaluated its technical proposal, which was rated unacceptable under the
technical approach and delivery factors, marginal under the experience factor,
and neutral for past performance. The
agency responds that due to a critical lack of information in the protester’s
proposal, it was unable to determine that the firm had a sufficient
understanding of the statement of work requirements; the agency concluded that
the information provided by the protester was insufficient to rate its proposal
acceptable under the technical approach and delivery factors. Specifically, the agency evaluators found
that while the firm’s proposal provided a brief response to the detailed
technical approach requirements, in which CDS mentioned the firm’s intention to
maintain inventory and warehouse operations, specific statement of work
requirements were not referenced, as was required (e.g., regarding
subcontractor relationships, safety and health plans, quality control, and
planned communication and information management), and no planned procedures or
detailed methodologies were provided to explain how the firm intended to
perform the statement of work requirements.
Similarly, under the delivery evaluation factor, while the CDS proposal mentioned
the use of certain vehicles and noted that certain reports could be produced,
the evaluators found that insufficient detail was provided to ensure an
adequate number and type of vehicles would be readily available for
simultaneous deliveries, as required, and no detailed methodology was presented
to either explain what procedures would be followed to ensure that materials
would be expeditiously obtained and delivered, including delivery to remote
locations, or to explain in any meaningful detail the firm’s planned procedures
to meet stated reporting requirements.
Under the experience factor, the evaluators rated the proposal marginal, finding that, although the summaries of work performed by CDS indicated a willingness to provide customer service and effective communication with the customer, with evidence of quick response and on-time deliveries, the work descriptions provided in the proposal failed to demonstrate the relevance of the work to the substantial and varied statement of work requirements set out in the RFP; none of the five contracts presented for evaluation was demonstrated to be of similar size, scope, and complexity as the work required under the RFP. Under the past performance factor, the proposal was rated neutral for demonstrating little or no relevant past performance, since the proposal’s contract descriptions did not provide details to demonstrate work of similar size, scope, and complexity, and no past performance reference surveys were submitted for consideration, as required by the RFP.
In reviewing protests of
alleged improper evaluations and source selections, our Office examines the
record to determine whether the agency’s judgment was reasonable and in accord
with the solicitation’s stated evaluation criteria and applicable procurement
laws. See Abt Assocs. Inc.,
B-237060.2,
As stated above, the solicitation here required detailed
responses from offerors in their proposals setting out their planned procedures
to perform a comprehensive set of requirements.
Our review of the record here confirms the reasonableness of the
agency’s findings of a critical lack of information in the proposal to
demonstrate the firm’s understanding of, and planned procedures to meet, the multitude
of performance requirements set out in the RFP.
Since such information was necessary for evaluation under the first two
technical evaluation factors, we have no basis to question the reasonableness
of the ratings of unacceptable assigned to the firm’s proposal under the
technical approach and delivery evaluation factors.
The RFP also required a demonstration of relevant
experience performing contracts of similar size, scope, and complexity, valued
at $1 million and performed within the past 5 years. Our review of the record shows there is no
basis to question the reasonableness of the marginal rating assigned under the
experience evaluation factor, since the protester’s proposal failed to
demonstrate that the contracts it referenced for review were either performed
within the past 5 years or encompassed work of similar size, scope, or
complexity (or met the dollar value threshold required) compared to the work
requirements here. Similarly, since the
relevance of the contracts, as described in the proposal, was reasonably
determined to be marginal, at best, we also have no basis to question the
reasonableness of the neutral rating assigned under the past performance factor. The past performance evaluation was to be
based not only on the relevance of the work, but the quality of the work
performed, which was to be assessed in survey forms to be completed and returned
to the agency by the firm’s past performance references. No such surveys were submitted for CDS. The rating of neutral for past performance
thus is unobjectionable, since, as defined by the RFP, such rating is
applicable where a proposal demonstrates “little/no relevant past performance
upon which to base a meaningful performance risk prediction.” RFP at 59.
Given the lack of detail in CDS’s proposal under each technical
evaluation factor, we have no basis to question the evaluation. See Financial & Realty Servs,
LLC, B‑299605.2,
CDS disagrees with the evaluation and awards, its mere
disagreement does not show that the agency’s actions were not reasonably
based. See Citywide Managing
Servs. of Port Washington, Inc., supra.
The protest is denied.
Gary L. Kepplinger
General Counsel
[1]
In its protest, CDS stated that it had submitted the same proposal for two
solicitations (for different geographical regions), and challenged that the
same proposal information was evaluated differently under each solicitation;
accordingly, we opened as a separate protest (B-400722) its challenge to its
proposal’s lower evaluation ratings under the second solicitation, RFP No.
W9126G-08-R-0121. The agency filed a
separate report responding to that protest.
CDS failed to file comments in response to that report, as required by
our Bid Protest Regulations; accordingly, we dismiss that protest. 4 C.F.R. sect. 21.3(i) (2008); Prio-Leau
Culinary Servs., Inc.--Recon., B-236373.6,
[2]
In its comments, CDS suggests that the RFP requirements for what the firm
refers to as “just in time delivery” and a required demonstration of experience
with $1 million contracts are excessive and should not be applied to CDS,
since the firm has a “better understanding” of manufacturer schedules affecting
delivery, and because it believes certain other, unrelated contracts have been
awarded to small businesses in the past for work (and at dollar amounts)
exceeding those firms’ prior experience.
Comments at 1. These
contentions provide no basis to question the award. First, to the extent the protester is now
challenging the solicitation’s stated requirements, its challenge is untimely,
as protests of apparent improprieties in a solicitation must be filed prior to
the closing date for the receipt of proposals.
Bid Protest Regulations, 4 C.F.R. sect. 21.2(a)(1). Furthermore, reference to other unrelated
awards is irrelevant here, as each procurement is a separate transaction; as
discussed above, the protester has provided no basis to conclude that the
awards here were made other than in accordance with the stated requirements of
this procurement. See Patriot
Contract Servs., LLC; Keystone Shipping Servs., Inc. et al., B-278276.11 et
al.,