Decision released: $25M NIH NIA clinical research support services IDIQ protest denial

DIGEST

1. Protest that the awardee has an unequal access to information organizational conflict of interest arising from a meeting between the agency, the protester, and the awardee with respect to the protester’s performance of predecessor requirements for the agency and the awardee’s performance on an unrelated contract is denied because the protester fails to establish that the meeting resulted in the awardee gaining access to any of the protester’s proprietary information.
2. Protest challenging the agency’s evaluation of the protester’s proposal under the technical and past performance factors is denied where the record shows that the agency’s evaluation was reasonable and consistent with the terms of the solicitation and procurement laws and regulations.
3. Protest that the agency conducted misleading discussions is denied where the discussions reasonably led the protester to the areas of its proposal that were the basis for the agency’s evaluated concerns.

DISCUSSION

Navitas’s initial and supplemental protests raise multiple protest grounds.  The protester contends that Digital was ineligible for award because of an unequal access to information OCI and challenges various aspects of NIA’s evaluation of its proposal under the technical and past performance evaluation factors.6  The protester also alleges that the agency conducted misleading discussions.   While we do not herein specifically discuss each and every argument or variation of the arguments raised, we have considered all of Navitas’s allegations and, as discussed below, through several representative examples of the protester’s arguments, the agency’s and the intervenor’s responses, and our conclusions, we find no basis on which to sustain the protest.

Unequal Access to Information OCI Navitas contends that Digital has an unmitigable unequal access to information OCI and therefore was ineligible for award.  Protest at 8-10; Protester’s Comments at 1-5.  In advancing this argument, the protester focuses on a March 31, 2023, Zoom7 meeting, attended by Navitas personnel, NIA personnel, and Digital’s program director.  Id.  Relevant here, Digital was the incumbent contractor for NIA’s CROMS system development contract, and Navitas was the incumbent contractor for NIA’s Clinical Trials Operations Support Center (CTOSC) contract.  Req. for Dismissal Exh. 3, Decl. of OCR Director ¶¶ 3, 7 at 1-2.  Under its CTOSC contract, Navitas performed regulatory support and oversight tasks for NIA’s division of behavioral and social research (BSR) concerning DSMBs, which is one of the divisions that will be supported under this protested procurement.  Req. for Dismissal at 3; see also, Req. for Dismissal Exh. 3, Decl. of OCR Director ¶ 7 at 2. The protester claims that proprietary information concerning its practices and strategies under its CTOSC contract, as well as information as to the number of DSMBs it manages and for which NIA divisions, were discussed, and thereby revealed the protester’s nonpublic, competitively useful information to Digital.8  See Protest at 9-10 citing, Exh. D, Decl. of Navitas’s Assoc. Vice President ¶¶ 6-9 at 1; see also, Protester’s Resp. to Req. for Dismissal at 3…

DECISION

Navitas Clinical Research, Inc. (Navitas), a small business located in Rockville, Maryland, protests the award of an indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract and issuance of an initial task order to Digital Infuzion, Inc. (Digital), of Rockville, Maryland, under request for proposals (RFP) No. 75N95023R00013, issued by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Institute of Aging (NIA), for clinical research support services.  Navitas argues that Digital has an unmitigated unequal access to information organizational conflict of interest (OCI), alleges the agency’s evaluation of its proposal was unreasonable, and contends that the agency engaged in misleading discussions.

We deny the protest.

Access the decision here.

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