Management and Technical Services Alliance Joint Venture (B-422786; B-422786.2, B-422786.3)

Category: Technical evaluation, past performance, best-value tradeoff

Date: November 6, 2024

URL: https://www.gao.gov/products/b-422786%2Cb-422786.2%2Cb-422786.3

You should not care.

Management and Technical Services Alliance Joint Venture (MTSA), a small business based in Arlington protested the U.S. Coast Guard’s award of a task order for acquisition and program support services to Vector CSP, LLC. MTSA argued that the Coast Guard failed to identify strengths in its proposal, improperly evaluated both past performance and staffing, and made an unreasonable best-value tradeoff decision in favor of Vector CSP’s lower price.

The Coast Guard evaluated MTSA and Vector’s proposals as technically equal, assigning both firms a “satisfactory” rating across all nonprice factors. GAO determined that the Coast Guard reasonably found no unique strengths in MTSA’s proposal, noting that the agency’s consensus evaluation was consistent with the RFP criteria. In reviewing past performance, GAO also upheld the agency’s “satisfactory confidence” rating for both offerors, finding that MTSA’s protests on the grounds of missing strengths in its proposal were unsupported by evidence.

GAO ultimately dismissed MTSA’s claim

Digest

Protest challenging the agency’s evaluation of proposals and best-value tradeoff decision is denied where the record shows that the agency’s evaluation was reasonable and consistent with the terms of the solicitation.