Link: GAO Opinion
Agency: Department of the Army
Disposition: Protest denied.
General Counsel P.C. Highlight:
GAO denied the protest of Obayashi-JPS JV, regarding the award of a contract to Tokyu Construction Co., Ltd., by the Department of the Army, Corps of Engineers, under a request for proposals (RFP) for the construction of a hydrant fuel system at Misawa Air Base, Japan.
The RFP provided for the award of a fixed-price contract to the offeror with the lowest-priced, technically-acceptable proposal. The factors to be considered included past experience, key personnel, qualifications of subcontractors, and past performance. The experience factor included a clause containing the following requirements: value greater than $1.5 billion; completed within 10 years from date of solicitation; where offeror was the prime contractor or a subcontractor which completed over 50% of the work; and work consisting of construction of a military or civilian fueling system, or petroleum, oil, and lubricants facilities.
Obayashi argues that Tokyu’s proposal should have been rejected based on their past experience where Tokyu’s past projects were far smaller in scope and magnitude than what the agency was requiring. GAO found that Tokyu’s initial proposal was rejected for the same reason, but the supplemental project information in Tokyu’s revised proposal proved that the project met the minimum past experience standards as required by the RFP. Therefore, GAO concluded that the agency reasonably evaluation Tokyu’s proposal as acceptable.