The agency received three proposals by the closing date, including proposals from Sterling and Valor. A technical evaluation board (TEB) was convened to evaluate proposals under four evaluation factors.
Contrary to the TEB’s findings, the SSA upgraded strengths to significant strengths and removed numerous weaknesses on Valor’s proposal and downgraded significant strengths to strengths on Sterling’s proposal. The SSA then selected Valor for award, explaining that it had the highest technical rating and the lowest price.
The GAO sustained a protest by Valor stating that “agencies are required to evaluate proposals based solely on the factors identified in the solicitation, and must adequately document the bases for their evaluation conclusions. An agency’s evaluation of proposals and source selection decision should be documented in sufficient detail to allow for the review of the merits of a protest. An agency that fails to adequately document its evaluation of proposals or source selection decision bears the risk that its determinations will be considered unsupported, and absent such support, our Office may be unable to determine whether the agency had a reasonable basis for its determinations. Given the…absence of any explanation by the agency, we have no basis upon which to conclude that the [SSA’s] assignment of a significant strength to Valor’s proposal…was reasonable.”
http://gao.gov/products/B-412407,B-412407.2
