• LinkedIn
  • Google +
  • Twitter
  • Facebook

+1-703-556-0411

Bid Protest Weekly
  • Home
  • Bid Protest Ed Center
    • What is a bid protest?
    • WHO can file a bid protest
    • DO I need an Attorney?
    • Why Should you file a bid protest?
    • When Must you file a bid protest?
    • Where can you file a bid protest?
    • READING the RFP
  • Blog
  • Topics
  • About Us
  • Contact Us

KinetX Aerospace, Inc. B-406798, B-406798.2, B-406798.3, August 21, 2012

  • By GCPC GovCon Legal Team
  • December 5, 2012
  • Best ValueProposal Evaluation

Link: GAO Decision

Protestor: KinetX Aerospace, Inc.

Agency: Department of the Navy

Disposition: Protest Denied.

________________________________________________________________________

GAO Digest:

Protest challenging an agency’s evaluation of technical and cost proposals and selection decision is denied where the record shows that the agency’s evaluation and selection decision were reasonable and consistent with the terms of the solicitation.

General Counsel PC Highlight:

KinetX Aerospace, Inc. protested the issuance to Vector Planning & Services, Inc. (VPSI) of task order for systems engineering support services. The RFP, issued to small business holders of SeaPort-e MACs, provided for award on a best value basis considering cost and the following non-cost factors in descending order of importance: organizational experience, management approach, personnel qualifications, and past performance. The SSA selected VPSI’s higher-priced proposal for award, finding that the additional benefits offered by VPSI outweighed the approximately $9.7 million difference in the offerors’ evaluated probably costs. In particular, the SSA noted the difference in the two firms’ ratings under the most important organizational experience factor.

KinetX argued that each of the minor strengths assigned to its proposal should have been major strengths, and that the outstanding ratings VPSI received under the organizational experience and personnel qualifications reflect disparate treatment. The GAO found, however, that KinetX merely disagreed with the agency’s assessment of the overall merit of its proposal, and that it failed to identify any information in its proposal that the agency failed to consider or factual errors made by the agency in considering its proposal. The GAO pointed out that the record showed that the TEB recognized KinetX’s relevant organizational experience, assessing a major and eleven minor strengths, as well as one minor weakness. The GAO then disagreed that VPSI’s outstanding rating under the organizational experience factor reflected disparate treatment, finding instead that it reflected the TEB’s judgment as to the relative merits of the firms’ experience.

The GAO also found that the record did not support KinetX’s contention that the agency unreasonably rated its or VPSI’s proposals under the personnel qualifications factor. It disagreed with Kinetx’s assertion that the RFP provided for equally-weighted subfactors under this factor; rather, these “subfactors” were various requirements that key personnel were to meet or exceed. The TEB had reasonably found that VPSI proposed key personnel had a greater degree of extensive and specific experience than KinetX.

KinetX challenged several aspects of the agency’s evaluation of VPSI’s technical proposal, complaining that the agency assigned a number of major and minor strengths in VPSI’s proposal for the firm’s ability to transition to performance and maintain continuity of the program. The GAO disagreed that the RFP did not allow for considering an offeror’s ability to begin work under the task order, even if the RFP did not require submission of transition plans, because offerors were to show how proposed staffing would ensure the most effective and economical performance, including an approach for selecting, retaining, supporting and replacing personnel so as to minimize learning curve and ramp-up time.

The GAO rejected KinetX’s challenges to the agency’s cost evaluation, finding the agency’s adjustment of KinetX’s labor rates for future hires in certain labor categories to be reasonable. Based on reasonable market research, the agency had determined that KinetX’s proposed rates were not realistic, based on the small community of engineering expertise available. The GAO also found no merit to KinetX’s arguments regarding the agency’s alleged reduction in VPSI’s actual labor rates for nine employees during its cost realism assessment. The GAO noted that the summary table to which KinetX was referring to was in error, and that the detailed supporting documentation for the CEB’s cost realism evaluation showed that the agency did not reduce VPSI’s actual labor rates.

Disappointed offerors should always request a debriefing so as to better understand the process and reasoning behind the agency’s source selection decision. An offeror should compare each of the major and minor strengths and weaknesses to the evaluation criteria as provided in the RFP to ensure that the evaluation was conducted in concordance with the terms of the RFP. Although a disappointed offeror may believe that its proposal warranted higher evaluation ratings, the GAO is unlikely to sustain a protest objecting to lower evaluation ratings so long as they are reasonably in line with the evaluation criteria in the RFP

Share

Related Posts

Matter of Sparksoft Corporation

July 2, 2023

Do You Have the Strength(s) for this Proposal? Bedda Show Me!

February 1, 2023

Peak-a-Boo, I see You! – An Agency’s Undocumented Best Value Analysis.

February 1, 2023

Please, Make My Bid Protesting Day by Not Documenting Your Award Decision.

November 17, 2022

Comments are closed

Search Bid Protest Weekly

Need help with a bid protest?

Call us at: 703-556-0411 Or fill out this form:

Categories

  • 8(a) Sole Source Awards
  • Acknowledging Amendments
  • Adequately Written Proposal
  • Adverse Agency Action
  • Adverse Impact Analysis
  • Agency Tender
  • Alternate or Previously-Approved Product
  • Alternative Dispute Resolution
  • Ambiguity in Solicitation
  • Attorney's Fees
  • Bad Faith in Evaluation
  • Below-Cost Offer
  • Best Value
  • Beyond the Scope
  • Bias
  • Bid and Proposal Costs
  • Bid Bond
  • Bid Compliance
  • Bid Protest Decisions
  • Bid Protest Jurisdiction
  • Bid Protests
  • Bidding Best Practices
  • Blanket Purchase Agreement
  • Blanket Purchase Order
  • Blog Articles
  • Bona Fide Needs Rule
  • Brand Name or Equal
  • Broad Agency Announcement
  • Brooks Act
  • Bundling or Consolidation
  • Buy American Act
  • Cancellation of a Solicitation
  • Capability of Contractor
  • CCR Registration
  • Certificate of Competency (COC)
  • Certification Requirements
  • Changes Clause
  • Clarifications
  • Clear and Convincing Evidence
  • Clearly Meritorious Protest
  • Clerical Error
  • Commercial Item Acquisition
  • Competitive Range
  • Compliance
  • Conflict of Interest
  • Construction Design-Build
  • Construction Services
  • Contract Administration
  • Contract Modifications
  • Contracting Preference
  • Contractor Responsibility
  • Corporate Capability
  • Corrective Action
  • Cost Accounting System
  • Cost Evaluation
  • Cost Realism
  • Cost Reimbursement Contract
  • Cost-Technical Trade-Off
  • Customary Commercial Practice
  • CVE
  • DCAA Audit
  • Debriefing
  • Default Termination
  • Deficient Price Proposal
  • Delivery Order jurisdiction
  • Delivery Schedule
  • Designated Employee Agent
  • Disclosure of Price
  • Disclosure of Source Selection-Sensitive Information
  • Discussions
  • Disqualification
  • Documentation of Evaluation
  • Domestic Production Requirement
  • Education Center Articles
  • Electronic Filing
  • Evaluation Criteria
  • Evaluations
  • Events
  • Executive Order Compliance
  • Experience of Contractor
  • Experience Requirement
  • Facility Clearance
  • Fair Market Price
  • FASA
  • FedBizOpps
  • Federal Prison Industries (FPI)
  • Filing Deadlines
  • Final Evaluation
  • Final Proposal Revisions
  • Financial Responsibility
  • Fixed Price Contract
  • Former Government Employees
  • FSS Contract
  • GAO Bid Protest Review
  • GAO Jurisdiction
  • GAO Standard of Review
  • Government Contracts
  • Government Office Closings
  • Government Surplus Material
  • GSA Lease
  • HUBZone
  • ID/IQ
  • Impaired Objectivity
  • In-Sourcing
  • Incentive Fee
  • Inclement Weather Delay
  • Incomplete Proposal
  • Incorporation by Reference
  • Incumbent Capture
  • Incumbent Status
  • Independent Government Estimate (IGE)
  • Individual Environmental Report
  • Industrial Mobilization
  • Innovations
  • Interested Party
  • Invitation for Bid
  • Invited Contractor
  • Javits-Wagner-O'Day Act
  • Joint Venture
  • Key Personnel
  • Labor Hours
  • Labor Rate Pricing
  • Late Proposals
  • Late Submissions
  • Level of Effort
  • Licensing Requirements
  • Limitation on Subcontracting
  • Liquidated Damages
  • Lost Proposal
  • Lowest Price Technically Acceptable
  • Mail-Box Rule
  • Management Planning
  • Market Research
  • MAS Contracts
  • Material Misrepresentation
  • Material Solicitation Amendment
  • Material Solicitation Terms
  • Meaningful Discussions
  • Micro-Purchase Threshold
  • Minimum Requirements
  • Misleading Discussions
  • Mistake
  • Mitigation Strategy
  • Multiple Awards
  • NAICS Code
  • National Security
  • Negotiation
  • News
  • Non-Procurement Instruments
  • Novations
  • Offeror Representations
  • OMB Circular A-76
  • Option Exercise
  • Oral Presentations
  • Organizational Conflict of Interest (OCI)
  • Page Limitations
  • Past Performance
  • Past Performance Information Retrieval System (PPIRS)
  • Performance Based Standards
  • Permits and Responsibilities
  • Personal Conflicts of Interest
  • Post-Award Changes to the Contract
  • Post-Protest Re-Evaluations
  • Practicable Alternative
  • Pre-Award Protest
  • Pre-award vs. Post-award Requirements
  • Pre-Qualification of Offerors
  • Pre-Solicitation Notice
  • Prejudice
  • Price Calculation Error
  • Price Calculation Error
  • Price Evaluation
  • Price of FSS Task Order Quote
  • Price Realism
  • Price Reasonableness
  • Price Reduction
  • Procurement Announcement
  • Procurement Integrity
  • Product Testing
  • Proposal Acceptance Period
  • Proposal Detail
  • Proposal Evaluation
  • Proposal Extension
  • Proposal Standards
  • Proposals
  • Protest Terms of Solicitation
  • Protester Comments
  • Public-Private Competition
  • Randolph-Sheppard Act (RSA)
  • Rate Tenders
  • Re-Certification of Size Status
  • Reconsideration
  • Reevaluation
  • Reevaluation Standards
  • Reimbursed Attorney's Fees
  • Reimbursement of Protest Costs
  • Rejection of Proposal
  • Relaxation or Waiver of Requirement
  • Relevancy of Past Performance
  • Reliance on the Proposal
  • Remedies
  • Requirements Contract
  • Responsibility
  • Responsiveness
  • Restricted Competition
  • Resumes
  • Revision of Proposal
  • Revision of Proposals
  • Risk
  • Rule of Two
  • SBA Status protest
  • Scope of GAO Review
  • SDVOSB Set-Asides
  • Significant Issue Exception
  • Simplified Acquisition Procedures
  • Site Visit
  • Size Determination
  • Size Protest
  • Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program
  • Small Business Set-Asides
  • Small Business Subcontracting Goals
  • Sole-Source Award
  • Solicitation Amendment
  • Solicitation Requirements
  • Source Approval
  • Source Selection Authority
  • Source Selection Decision
  • Source Selection Plan
  • Sources Sought Notice
  • Staffing Plan
  • State and Local Requirements
  • Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA)
  • Subcontract Protest
  • Subcontractor Experience
  • Suspension and Debarment
  • Taking Exception to RFP Requirements
  • Task Orders
  • Teaming Agreement
  • Technical Acceptability
  • Technical Evaluation
  • Technical Evaluation
  • Termination of Award
  • Terms of the Solicitation
  • Timeliness of Protest
  • Timely Filing
  • Timely Performance
  • Timely Proposal Submission
  • Trade Agreement Act
  • Unbalanced Pricing
  • Unduly Restrictive Terms
  • Unequal Access to Information
  • Unequal Treatment of Offerors
  • Uniform Time Act of 1996
  • Unstated Evaluation Criteria
  • Unusual and Compelling Urgency
  • Use of Appropriated Funds
  • Veterans First
  • VIP Database
  • VOSB Set Asides
  • Wage Determination

Get Help


Talk to an
attorney who
specializes
in bid protests:

+1-703-556-0411
Email

Keep up to date
on bid protest
decisions and
policies:

© 2023 Bid Protest Weekly

  • LinkedIn
  • Google +
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Home
  • Bid Protest Ed Center
  • Blog
  • Topics
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Home
  • Bid Protest Ed Center
    • What is a bid protest?
    • WHO can file a bid protest
    • DO I need an Attorney?
    • Why Should you file a bid protest?
    • When Must you file a bid protest?
    • Where can you file a bid protest?
    • READING the RFP
  • Blog
  • Topics
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • LinkedIn
  • Google +
  • Twitter
  • Facebook

+1-703-556-0411