Decision Released: DHS FirstSource III Software and ITVAR Solicitation protest denial

Background

The FirstSource III Solicitation is set aside for small businesses.  There are separate tracks for different small business socioeconomic programs—e.g., small business, service disabled veteran owned small business, etc.  Recall too that the Solicitation is also divided into two functional categories—Software and ITVAR.  According to the Solicitation:

“Offerors may submit proposals for one or both Functional Categories and some, one or all of the small business SocioEconomic tracks under the Functional Categories for which they are certified based on small business program requirements, their capabilities, and their established size standards.  Because there are opportunities for multiple proposal submissions, the contractor shall submit a separate proposal for each functional category.”

Tab 220a at AR15959.  The procurement also utilized a two-phase advisory down-select process.  Under this process, the Agency evaluated proposals in Phase I for two factors: (1) the ability to perform the work, and (2) SCRM.  Id. at AR16058.  While Phase 1, Factor 1 included …

Discussion

In a bid protest, the agency provides to the court an administrative record.  Axiom Res. Mgmt., Inc. v. United States, 564 F.3d 1374, 1379 (Fed. Cir. 2009).  A complete administrative record includes “all materials that were ‘directly or indirectly considered by the agency decisionmakers,’ such that the reviewing court ‘should have before it neither more nor less information than did the agency when it made its decision.’”  Trace Sys. Inc. v. United States, 160 Fed. Cl. 691, 694 (2022) (internal citations omitted) (first quoting Joint Venture of Comint Sys. Corp. v. United States, 100 Fed. Cl. 159, 168-69 (2011); and then quoting Walter O. Boswell Mem’l Hosp. v. Heckler, 749 F.2d 788, 792 (D.C. Cir. 1984)).  Plaintiffs seek to complete the record or, in the alternative, to supplement the record with documents regarding the Software technical evaluation team’s evaluations of their SCRM proposals.

Decision

Under its FirstSource III Solicitation, the Department of Homeland Security (the “Agency”) is running two roughly parallel procurements.  In general terms, the Solicitation includes one functional category that covers computer software and one functional category that covers IT hardware and services, known as the “ITVAR” functional category.  Offerors could submit proposals for one or both functional categories, and Plaintiffs Govplace, Inc. and Invicta2 Group, LLC3 submitted proposals for each functional category.  They submitted materially identical proposals regarding their supply chain risk management (“SCRM”) approaches for both the Software and the ITVAR functional categories.  Despite the SCRM proposals being identical, the Software evaluation resulted in a “High Confidence” rating while the ITVAR evaluation resulted in a “Low Confidence” rating.  Plaintiffs’ protests include challenges to this discrepancy, and they now seek to complete or supplement the administrative record to add their Software proposal and records of the Software team’s evaluation of the SCRM proposal.  Because the court can adequately address the rationality of the ITVAR evaluation without resort to the Software evaluation, the court denies the motion.

Read the decision here.

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