Link: GAO Decision
Protestor: R3 Government Solutions LLC
Agency: United States Coast Guard
Disposition: Protest Denied.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
GAO Digest:
- Protest challenging agency’s technical evaluation is denied where the record reflects that the evaluation was reasonable and consistent with solicitation terms.
- Protest that agency failed to perform a price realism evaluation as required by solicitation is denied where the solicitation provided for realism assessment using proposal analysis techniques established under Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) § 15.404-1, and the agency assessed prices for realism based on comparison with prices received, among the methods identified under FAR § 15.404-1.
General Counsel PC:
R3 Government Solutions LLC protested the award to six companies of ID/IQ contracts for technical, acquisition, and business support services. The RFP contemplated multiple awards, on unrestricted and set-aside bases, for a variety of work domains, on a best value basis considering experience/management approach, past performance, and price evaluation factors. Of the 14 proposals which were considered for award under the SDVOSB set-aside, R3 had the tenth highest TEP. In light of the favorable technical capability demonstrated by the six lowest-priced satisfactory proposals, the agency determined that the premium of $62 million (as compared to the awardee’s proposal with the highest TEP) for an award to R3 was not warranted.
The GAO found reasonable the agency’s concerns regarding the lack of cost analysis experience for R3’s proposed senior cost analyst, noting that R3’s proposal did not specifically demonstrate that its senior cost analyst had knowledge of cost analysis organizations, data sources, and cost data utilization, requirements of the position as set forth in the RFP. The GAO then found no reason to question the agency’s price realism evaluation, pointing out that the RFP did not provide for the type of analysis sought by R3. Although R3 argued that the agency should have evaluated the proposed prices against a range of sample tasks to confirm that complex task orders could be accomplished at the labor rates and prices proposed by all offerors, the GAO found reasonable the agency’s comparison of TEPs to identify outlier pricing.
Where an RFP requires offerors to detail the experience and qualifications of proposed personnel with respect to the job descriptions set forth in the solicitation, offerors bear the burden of submitting thorough resumes matching the job descriptions. Failure to demonstrate experience in each of the areas identified in the RFP could result in the assessment of a weakness that the agency is not obligated to provide the opportunity to correct through discussions.