Four Points by Sheraton v. United States

66 Fed. Cl. 776, 2005 U.S. Claims LEXIS 206, 2005 WL 1655004
CourtUnited States Court of Federal Claims
DecidedJune 28, 2005
DocketNo. 04-1589C
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 66 Fed. Cl. 776 (Four Points by Sheraton 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
Four Points by Sheraton v. United States, 66 Fed. Cl. 776, 2005 U.S. Claims LEXIS 206, 2005 WL 1655004 (uscfc 2005).

Opinion

ORDER AND OPINION GRANTING DEFENDANT AND INTERVENOR’S CROSS-MOTIONS FOR JUDGMENT ON THE ADMINISTRATIVE RECORD

WILLIAMS, Judge.

In this post-award bid protest, Plaintiff, the Four Points by Sheraton (Four Points), [778]*778challenges the Army’s award of a contract for meals and lodging for armed forces applicants to Command Management Services, Inc. (Command or CMS). Plaintiff contends that the evaluation process was arbitrary and capricious in two respects. First, Plaintiff claims that offers were evaluated unfairly or inconsistently resulting in improper ratings. Second, Plaintiff alleges that the Contracting Officer (CO), Patricia Rollie, was biased against Four Points. Currently before the Court are the parties’ cross-motions for judgment on the administrative record (AR).2 Because Plaintiff has failed to establish that the agency’s evaluation and award were arbitrary and capricious or that agency officials were biased against Four Points, Defendant and Intervenor’s cross-motions for judgment on the administrative record are granted, and Plaintiffs cross-motion is denied.

Background

The United States Military Entrance Processing Command (MEPCOM) is responsible for the initial processing of applicants into the armed services of the United States. MEPCOM conducts this processing at Military Entrance Processing Stations in various cities, including Detroit, Michigan. On May 9, 2002, the Army issued solicitation number DABT23-02 for a firm, fixed-price requirements contract to provide meals and lodging for armed forces applicants at the Detroit Military Entrance Processing Station (MEPS). AR 43. The award was for a one-year base contract with four one-year option periods, and was to be based on a best value determination.

The solicitation specified that the proposals would be evaluated according to five criteria: (1) Facility Quality, which included Sanitation and Cleanliness, Room Condition, Meals, Security, Special Features, and Facility Location, (2) Transportation, (3) Quality Control, (4) Past Performance, and (5) Cost/Price. AR 54-55. According to the solicitation, facility quality was more important than transportation, and transportation was more important than past performance, which was equal to quality control. Non-cost factors were more important than cost or price. AR 56.

The solicitation included the following classifications for rating the proposals:

Excellent: written proposal demonstrates excellent understanding of requirements and approach that significantly exceeds performance or capability standards. Has exceptional strengths that will significantly benefit the Government. On site evaluation reinforces written proposals.'
Good: written proposal demonstrates good understanding of requirements and approach that exceeds performance or capability standards. Has one or more strengths that will benefit the Government. On-site evaluation proves any weakness can be minimized with normal contractor effort and normal Government monitoring. Satisfactory: written proposal demonstrates basic understanding of requirements and approach that meets performance or capability standards has few strengths. On-site evaluation proves any weakness can be minimized, but confirms the necessity of special contractor emphasis and close government monitoring necessary to minimize difficulties.
Marginal: written proposal demonstrates shallow understanding of requirements and approach that only marginally meets performance or capability standards necessary for minimal contract performance. Has no strengths. On-site evaluation confirms major weaknesses that can cause [779]*779some disruption of schedule or degradation of performance. Requirements can only be met with major changes to the proposal. Unsatisfactory: written proposal fails to meet performance or capability standards. Requirements can only be met with extensive changes to the proposal. On-site evaluation generally will not be done.

AR 57.

Seven offerors submitted complete proposals. Due to MEPS’ funding restraints, the evaluation process was delayed until December 2002. On-site evaluations were conducted on December 11-12, 2002, on the seven properties. On December 16, 2002, Four Points was notified that it was not considered for award because it had not submitted a complete proposal by the due date. AR 244. In response to a protest by Four Points, the Army, on December 19, 2002, issued Amendment 0001, extending the time for best and final offers to December 30, 2002. AR 43. Four Points submitted a complete proposal on December 23, 2002. AR 203.

The evaluators conducted an on-site evaluation of Four Points’ property on January 8, 2003. AR 9. On January 22, 2003, the Army notified Four Points that the award was made to Command. AR 229. Four Points filed a protest with the General Accounting Office (GAO) on January 29, 2003. AR 22. On March 19, 2003, Four Points submitted a supplemental protest alleging that Command would be undergoing renovations during 2003. AR 493. In response to this information presented by the protest, the Army determined that it would be proper to reevaluate Command’s proposal and conduct another source selection.

On March 27, 2003, the Army notified GAO that it was taking corrective action, which effectively rendered Four Points’ protest moot. AR 412. Accordingly, on March 31, 2003, Four Points withdrew its protest. On February 14, 2003, in the intervening period between initial award and Four Points’ withdrawal of its protest, Col. David Slotwinski, the commander of MEPCOM, issued a moratorium on new hotel solicitations until a review of the program could be conducted. AR 1177. MEPS officials made it clear to the contracting officer “[t]hat we would stop all awarding of all contracts for meals and lodgings for approximately 90 days.” Deposition of Patricia Rollie, Jan. 21, 2005, at 20. On May 12, 2003, the Commander of MEPCOM lifted the moratorium. AR 1178.

Thereafter, on May 20, 2003, the Army issued Amendment 0002 to the RFP with a revised statement of work and set the opening of proposals for May 29, 2003. AR 652. Amendment No. 2 retained the RFP’s evaluation factors and the weight assigned to each factor. AR 662. Regarding Transportation, Amendment No. 2 retained the identical language in the original solicitation, which provided that “[t]he offeror shall provide a plan denoting how they will meet the transportation requirements specified in the statement of work. The offeror shall make proposed vehicles available for inspection by the Government.” (Compare AR 55 with AR 661). The solicitation also mandated:

the contractor shall provide transportation to move applicants from the contractor’s facility to the MEPS. The contractor shall transport all applicants from his/her facility to the MEPS each morning so as to arrive at the MEPS site no later than 6:00 AM. The contractor is responsible for transporting the applicants on time; however, applicants shall not be awakened any earlier than 30 minutes before breakfast time.

AR 73, 667.

Four Points submitted a revised proposal. AR 652. Command did not. See Amendment No. 2 at AR 652 (“Offerors need only to submit revised pricing and/or changes they wish to make to their proposal already on hand.”). The Army assigned a team of evaluators to assess proposals, and to make a recommendation to the CO who was also the source selection authority.

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Bluebook (online)
66 Fed. Cl. 776, 2005 U.S. Claims LEXIS 206, 2005 WL 1655004, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/four-points-by-sheraton-v-united-states-uscfc-2005.