Link: GAO Opinion
Agency: Department of the Army
Disposition: Protest denied.
General Counsel P.C. Highlight:
GAO denied the protest of Great American Forwarders, Inc. (GRAF) regarding the exclusion of its proposal, by the Department of Defense, Surface Deployment and Distribution Command, Personal Property Division, from eligibility to receive shipment awards for international household goods.
The agency determined that for the 2013 rate filing season, it would exclude transportation service providers (TSP) whose performance scores were in the bottom one percent from receiving awards in an effort to increase the quality of household goods shipments. GRAF had a performance score of 55.92, which was below the minimum performance score (MPS) for the international market, and as a result, GRAF was advised that it was precluded from filing rates and receiving awards in the international household goods markets.
First, GRAF argued that the agency did not provide adequate notice that the MPS would be increased in the 2013 cycle. GAO did not agree with the protester where the record showed that the agency notified TSPs a number of times that there would be an increase. In the fall of 2012, the agency reminded TSPs that it would recalculate customer satisfaction survey scores and reminded TSPs of the process and deadlines for appealing the scores.
GRAF also argued that the agency unreasonably concluded that its MPS of 55.92 did not satisfy the requirements where its score should have been rounded up to 56, but GAO finds no merit to this argument. The protester cites no authority for the proposition that scores should be rounded up.