Acc Construction Company, Inc. v. United States

122 Fed. Cl. 663, 2015 U.S. Claims LEXIS 1070, 2015 WL 5000551
CourtUnited States Court of Federal Claims
DecidedAugust 21, 2015
Docket15-498C
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 122 Fed. Cl. 663 (Acc Construction Company, Inc. v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of Federal Claims primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Acc Construction Company, Inc. v. United States, 122 Fed. Cl. 663, 2015 U.S. Claims LEXIS 1070, 2015 WL 5000551 (uscfc 2015).

Opinion

Bid Protest; Two-Phase Procurement; Unstated Evaluation Criteria; 10 U.S.C. §§ 2305, 2305a; FAR 15.305; Lack of Prejudice.

OPINION

BRUGGINK, Judge.

This is a pre-award, post-solicitation protest of the United States Army Corps of Engineers’s (the “agency”) decision to exclude plaintiff from participation in Phase II of the competitive bidding process for the design and construction of the Army Reserve Center Complex at the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland (“Aberdeen Complex”). Currently before the court are the parties’ cross-motions for judgment on the administrative record pursuant to Rule 52.1 of the Rules of the United States Court of Federal Claims (“RCFC”). See RCFC 52.1(c). Plaintiff also filed a motion for leave to supplement the administrative record with two affidavits from its employees, several documents pertaining to the agency’s initial and unsuccessful attempt to compete this procurement through small businesses, and a design specifications sheet. Defendant filed a motion to correct the administrative record, agreeing with plaintiff that the design specifications sheet should be included in the record. The motions are fully briefed, and we heard oral argument on August 5, 2015. For reasons set out below, we grant in part and deny in part plaintiffs motion to supplement the administrative record; we grant defendant’s motion to correct the administrative record; we deny plaintiffs motion for judgment on the administrative record; and we grant defendant’s cross-motion.

BACKGROUND 1

On February 13, 2015, the agency’s Louisville District issued Request for Proposal (“RFP”) No. W912QR-15-R-0014 (the “solicitation”), requesting bids for the design and construction of an Army Reserve Center Complex at the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland. Administrative Record (“AR”) 145-501. The Aberdeen Complex will be comprised of a training building, a maintenance building (“OMS”), and an unheated storage building (“UHS”), and will have the capacity to house eleven Army Reserve units.

Prior to issuance of the current solicitation, the agency attempted to designate this project as a small business set-aside. The agency published a market survey requesting *665 small businesses to submit descriptions of their past projects that were similar in scope to the proposed Aberdeen Complex. The survey specifically stated that projects considered to be similar in scope are those that involved “design and construction of multiple buildings that include: army reserve complexes, armed forces training complexes,, office complexes, education facilities, and multistory multipurpose complexes.” AR 5.

The agency received a number of responses to this survey. One response that the agency considered acceptable was from a small business joint venture, [Redacted], which submitted past performance examples, primarily consisting of pre-engineered metal buildings. AR 6-7, 54. Due to the interest generated, the agency issued the first solicitation for the Aberdeen Complex, RFP No. W912QR-14-R-0018, as a small business set-aside. After receiving proposals from small businesses, however, the agency determined that the set-aside was unworkable due to its inability to generate an acceptable bid price. Later, in preparing to advertise the project as unrestricted, the agency noted that the “current scope was not modified from the prior acquisition attempt.” AR 59.

In the pre-solicitation notice for the second solicitation, the agency described several construction requirements for the Aberdeen buildings: “[P]ermanent construction with reinforced concrete foundations, concrete floor slabs, structural steel frames, masonry veneer walls, standing seam metal roof, Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC), plumbing, mechanical systems, security systems, and electrical systems.” AR 69. This language is identical to that contained in the sources sought notice issued before the small business market survey.

For the unrestricted solicitation, the agency decided to utilize a two-phase procurement method to identify the contractor that would bring the most value to the agency. Under Phase I, offerors submitted a limited proposal comprised of past performance, technical, and pro forma information. The solicitation asked the offerors to list in the past performance section three projects that were similar in size and scope to the Aberdeen Complex. AR 153. The Aberdeen Complex is roughly 78,004 square feet in size. Projects similar in size are those that were “a minimum of 45,000 square feet.” Id. The Aberdeen Complex will require the construction of a training building, a maintenance building, an unheated storage building, a vehicle wash platform, and other site improvements, such that the completed center is capable of supporting Army Reserve units and their training missions.

The solicitation defined a project “similar in scope” as one that involved “NEW CONSTRUCTION of multi-story building facilities such as training complexes, office complexes, educational facilities, and multipurpose complexes.” Id. In the technical section, offerors were required to “[p]rovide a management plan for the project that describes how [their] labor, resources, designers, subcontractors and material suppliers will be eooi’dinated and used to ensure successful completion of the project.” AR 155. The management plan had to “demonstrate a clear understanding of the work and an ability to coordinate resources to ensure successful .pursuit of the work.” Id. Finally, offerors were requested to include several other documents regarding their bonding and financial capabilities within the pro forma section.

The agency received [ ] offers in response to the solicitation. A Source Selection Evaluation-Board (“SSEB”) was created to review and rate the offers so that up to five offerors could be selected to advance to Phase II. The SSEB applied several adjectival rating criteria in making its determinations. Under past performance, the SSEB evaluated the projects listed by the offeror for relevance and confidence. For relevance, the SSEB looked to the following table:

*666 [[Image here]]

AR 151. Based on the relevance of each of the listed projects, the SSEB then assigned an overall confidence rating, reflecting whether the SSEB believed the offeror could complete the Aberdeen Complex project and characterizing the offeror’s overall past performance rating. These ratings are encapsulated in the following table:

*667 [[Image here]]

Id.

Under the technical section, the SSEB evaluated the offeror’s management plan by identifying any strengths, weaknesses, or deficiencies. AR 152. A strength is defined as an “aspect of an offeror’s proposal that has merit or exceeds specified performance or capability requirements in a way that will be advantageous to the Government during contract performance.” Id. A weakness is defined as a “flaw in the proposal that increases the risk of unsuccessful contract performance.” Id.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
122 Fed. Cl. 663, 2015 U.S. Claims LEXIS 1070, 2015 WL 5000551, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/acc-construction-company-inc-v-united-states-uscfc-2015.