Decision Released: VA Healthcare Networks Assessments requirement

File No. B-422118.2, B-422118.3

Digest

1. Protest brought for the first time following corrective action is untimely when it challenges evaluation findings from an earlier award decision of which the protester was previously advised, and which did not change during the reevaluation.
2. Protest of agency’s evaluation and best-value tradeoff decision is denied where the evaluation and award decision were adequately documented, reasonable, and consistent with the solicitation.
3. Protest that the awardee is ineligible for award because it did not notify the agency that a key person became unavailable to perform after quotation submission but before award is denied, where the protester did not demonstrate that the key person was actually unavailable.

Discussion

Booz Allen Hamilton (BAH) raises numerous challenges to the agency’s award. Specifically, BAH challenges the weaknesses assigned to its own technical quotation and argues that it should have received additional strengths. Protest at 15-38. The protester also alleges that the agency’s evaluation was unreasonable and applied unstated evaluation criteria in assigning strengths to Guidehouse’s quotation and challenges the agency’s best-value tradeoff in numerous respects. Protester’s Comments and Supp. Protest at 33-44. Additionally, the protester alleges that one of Guidehouse’s key personnel will not be available to perform, and that Guidehouse failed to notify the agency of this fact and therefore should be found ineligible for award. Id. at 3-6. Finally, the protester challenges the agency’s best-value tradeoff decision in numerous respects.

The agency requests that we dismiss the entirety of the original protest allegations challenging the agency’s evaluation of BAH’s quotation as untimely. See AR, Tab G, Agency Request for Dismissal generally. In this regard, following the first award in this procurement, in September of 2023, the protester received a letter outlining the weaknesses and strengths assigned to its quotation …

Decision

Booz Allen Hamilton (BAH), Inc., of McLean, Virginia, protests the establishment of a blanket-purchase agreement (BPA) with and the issuance of a call order to Guidehouse, Inc., of Chicago, Illinois, under request for quotations (RFQ) 36C10F23Q0008 issued to all holders of the General Services Administration multiple-award federal supply schedule 541611, management and financial consulting, by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for market area assessments of VA’s healthcare networks. The protester primarily challenges the adequacy and reasonableness of the agency’s best-value tradeoff and, alleges that the awardee should have been found technically unacceptable because one of its proposed key personnel became unavailable prior to award.

We deny the protest in part and dismiss it in part.

Read the decision here.

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