Arinc Engineering Services, LLC v. United States

77 Fed. Cl. 196, 2007 U.S. Claims LEXIS 205, 2007 WL 1893178
CourtUnited States Court of Federal Claims
DecidedJune 7, 2007
DocketNo. 07-73C
StatusPublished
Cited by37 cases

This text of 77 Fed. Cl. 196 (Arinc Engineering Services, LLC 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
Arinc Engineering Services, LLC v. United States, 77 Fed. Cl. 196, 2007 U.S. Claims LEXIS 205, 2007 WL 1893178 (uscfc 2007).

Opinion

OPINION

ALLEGRA, Judge.

This post-award bid protest action is before the court on the parties’ cross-motions for judgment on the administrative record. Plaintiff, ARINC Engineering Services, LLC (ARINC), contends that in awarding a contract for space and missile defense integration, the United States Department of the Army (the Army) violated regulations governing organizational conflicts of interest by allowing the awardee to have unequal access to information. Defendant responds that the informational advantages of which plaintiff complains are those typically associated with incumbency and created no organizational conflict of interest here. After careful consideration of the briefs and other materials filed by the parties, the oral argument, and for the reasons discussed below, the court DENIES plaintiffs motion for judgment on the administrative record and instead GRANTS defendant’s cross-motion.

I. BACKGROUND

The Army Space and Missile Defense Command Battle Lab (SMDC-BL) developed the Concepts and Operations for Space and Missile Defense Integration Capabilities (COSMIC) Program to support its new mission of space, near space and missile defense capabilities integration and development. SMDC-BL intends to use COSMIC to support the U.S. Space and Missile Defense Future Warfare Center. In March of 2006, the Army issued a draft Request for Proposals (RFP) under Solicitation No. W91260-06-R-0005 for the COSMIC contract. On April 4, 2006, the SMDC-BL held an industry conference, at which it told potential offerors it did not intend to establish a bidders library, but rather would “provide all of the information necessary to respond to the Task Order[s]” required by the RFP. A participant at that conference inquired about whether “incumbent Task Orders” had anything to do with the Sample Tasks that were the subject of the RFP, to which the Army responded— “[n]o, the Sample Task Orders are new requirements.” After the conference, the Army issued several more drafts of the RFP.

On July 5, 2006, defendant, acting by and through the Army Space and Missile Defense Command (SMDC), issued the final version of the RFP for services related to the COSMIC program. The RFP contemplated the award of a cost-plus-fixed-fee, indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity award term contract to perform systems integration services for the SMDC. The RFP called for proposals to be submitted by July 27, 2006; that time eventually was extended, by amendment, to August 10, 2006. The RFP required the award to be made to the offeror proposing the best value to the government in accordance with the stated evaluation criteria. The RFP contemplated multiple awards, with at least one award set aside for small businesses.

The RFP’s Statement of Work (SOW) provided that the “integrator” services to be supplied under the contract include, but are not limited to, tasks and capabilities such as: recognition of sources who may provide space, near space, and missile defense capabilities; knowledge of science and technology [198]*198community initiatives and technology exploration and identification; technical/system integration and development of operational prototypes; wargaming; configuration management and software development; and help-desk capability. The RFP anticipated that three task orders would be issued under the contract: Knowledge Management (KM); High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE); and Space and Missile Defense Operations Technology (SMOTE). The most important of these, at least for evaluation purposes, was the SMOTE task order. It requires the contractor to support space and missile defense innovations by, inter alia, integrating two existing programs—the Future Operational Capability Tactical Operations Center (FOC-TOC) and the Space Support Element Toolset (SSET)—providing troops using specially equipped High-Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles (Humvees) with a combined space and missile defense system that is easily reconfigurable and multi-mission capable.2 Each offeror was asked to submit a Task Order Plan (TOP) for each of the three proposed tasks, describing its approach and understanding of the task.

The RFP identified four evaluation factors: Task Order Plan, Management, Small Business Participation Plan, and Cost. The TOP and Management factors were relatively equal in weight. When combined, the TOP and Management factors were significantly more important than the Small Business Participation Plan and Cost factors. The Small Business Participation Plan factor was slightly more important than the Cost factor. Within the TOP factor, the SMOTE task order was the most important, followed in importance by the HALE and KM task orders. When combined, the HALE and KM task orders were less important than the SMOTE task order. The RFP provided that, to be eligible for award, a rating of no less than “Satisfactory,” had to be achieved for the Task Order Plan Area, the Management Area and the Small Business Participation Plan. The Cost factor was not rated, but the RFP stated that poor cost realism could result in a lower evaluation of an offer- or’s proposal and be viewed as a lack of understanding of the contract requirements. The RFP provided that “[o]fferors submitting cost proposals that are so unrealistically high or low as to preclude a reasonable chance of being selected for award may be excluded from the competitive range.”

Both ARINC and BAE Analytical Solutions, Inc. (BAE) had experience relevant to the SMOTE task order. These companies performed work on the SSET through the Space Technology, Application and Requirements Support (STARS) contract. Under that contract, ARINC provided SSET design, integration, testing, training, and accreditation, as well as exercise support. AR-INC also had experience relevant to the FOC-TOC through its work on the Joint Based Expeditionary Connectivity Center (JBECC), which is essentially an improved version of the FOC-TOC. Almost all the software applications, hardware and communications equipment in the FOC-TOC and JBECC are identical. BAE also performed work on the FOC-TOC through a task order in the Systems Engineering and Technical Assistance Contract (SETAC).

Five offerors submitted proposals in response to the RFP, including ARINC, BAE and Quantum Research International, Inc. (Quantum). The Source Selection Evaluation Board (SSEB) conducted evaluations from July 31, 2006, to August 16, 2006, and concluded that BAE and Quantum offered the most advantageous approaches and the best value to meet the Army’s objectives. The Price/Cost Team evaluated the cost proposals, rating the offerors as follows:

Offeror Cost
ARINC $[]
Schafer $[ ]
Quantum $[ ]
BAE $[]
Dynetics $[ ]

[199]*199The parties agree that the following chart accurately summarizes the Army’s evaluation of the TOPs submitted by the offerors:

[[Image here]]

As this chart reveals, in its technical evaluation of the TOPs, the Army found ARINC to be “Satisfactory,” but with a “Moderate Risk.” The Army attributed the latter risk to ARINC’s proposed response to the SMOTE task order, which, in the Army’s view, failed to demonstrate an in-depth understanding of the SMOTE requirements. By comparison, the Army found BAE’s TOPs to demonstrate a “Good” understanding, with a “Low Risk.”

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Bluebook (online)
77 Fed. Cl. 196, 2007 U.S. Claims LEXIS 205, 2007 WL 1893178, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/arinc-engineering-services-llc-v-united-states-uscfc-2007.