J & D Maintenance & Services v. United States

45 Fed. Cl. 532, 1999 U.S. Claims LEXIS 295, 1999 WL 1335047
CourtUnited States Court of Federal Claims
DecidedDecember 28, 1999
DocketNo. 99-484C
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 45 Fed. Cl. 532 (J & D Maintenance & Services 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
J & D Maintenance & Services v. United States, 45 Fed. Cl. 532, 1999 U.S. Claims LEXIS 295, 1999 WL 1335047 (uscfc 1999).

Opinion

OPINION

BASKIR, Judge.

An Introductory Note on Protected Information

This protest has been litigated under a Protective Order entered on August 9, 1999. Rather than issue two opinions, one complete but sealed, and a redacted public version, the Court expressed its intention to file a single published opinion which would sufficiently inform the reader of the issues and their resolution, while still affording the parties the necessary confidentiality. The Court informed the parties by Order of November 23, 1999, of the types of information previously designated as sensitive which it proposed to include. The parties agreed that certain of this material did not require continued protection.

However, the government and Ashe sought continued protection for certain aspects of Ashe’s bid structure. The Court has acceded to this request. Accordingly, the Court has substituted generic terms for specific references to this protected information. The generic terms appear in brackets and include a citation to the administrative record where the specifics may be found. Unless otherwise noted, all citations are to the administrative record filed by the government on August 5, 1999—the record in existence at the time the GAO made its decision to affirm the award of the contract to Ashe.

Summary

J & D Maintenance and Services has brought a post-award protest to the March 1, 1999, award of a grounds maintenance contract by the Naval Facilities Engineering Command to S.D. Ashe Landscaping & Services, Inc. J & D has moved for summary judgment, contending Ashe’s bids were im-permissibly unbalanced. We deny its motion and grant Ashe’s and the government’s cross motions.

[534]*534 The Procurement

J & D’s central challenge to the Navy’s award is an assertion that Ashe’s bid was unbalanced and should have been rejected. We begin our consideration by reviewing the history of the solicitation and award with particular attention to the Navy’s review of Ashe’s bid.

The Navy issued the RFP on July 21, 1998. The awardee was to provide grounds maintenance services at three Naval bases in Florida. The contract had a base period and four one year options. J & D was the incumbent contractor.

Section M of Part IV of the amended solicitation provided for a best value selection based on price and technical factors. Price was as important as the cumulative importance of the technical factors. The determination of actual or total price was based upon overall pricing for the basic requirement and options.

By September 17, 1998, proposals were received from ten firms, including J & D and Ashe. There were no protests to the RFP terms. More significantly, there never was any challenge to the Navy’s “indefinite quantity” (IQ) estimates, which were also for grounds maintenance. The technical proposals, such as methods and procedures, experience, past performance and corporate resources and management, were reviewed by the Technical Evaluation Board (TEB), which assigned adjectival ratings. The TEB initially rated the J & D and Ashe proposals “Highly Satisfactory,” and included them in the competitive range. The Price Evaluation Board (PEB) evaluated price, and ranked the bidders based on overall evaluated price. In October the TEB and PEB provided recommendations to the Source Selection Board (SSB) which then provided a recommended best value to the Source Selection Authority (“SSA”). The combined rankings of the TEB and PEB had J & D as first, Ashe as second.

Written discussions took place with J & D and Ashe. The Navy specifically focused on whether Ashe’s bid was unbalanced. It asked if the [FFP included inappropriate costs]. Ashe explained [its pricing strategy]. AR 0688, 0709, 1367. It denied its bid was unbalanced.

The AR contains two anomalies which later figure in J & D’s claims. In one, an addendum attached to a subsequent January 1999 Post Negotiation Business Clearance Report stated that in this period the TEB had found Ashe’s pricing structure “unacceptable!!” However, in the TEB’s re-evaluation, issued on or about November 16, 1998, the word and punctuation “unacceptable!!” do not appear.

A second round of discussions was conducted and responses were received in November and December 1998. The TEB lowered Ashe’s overall technical rating from Highly Satisfactory to Acceptable based on Ashe’s inclusion of [particular costs] in its FFP line item prices. AR 1274. The TEB noted its concern regarding this aspect of Ashe’s pricing structure, yet again ranked J & D first and Ashe second. The PEB ranked Ashe second, J & D third. The TEB’s final combined ranking, as reflected in the Post-Negotiation Clearance Report, was J & D first, Ashe third.

J & D submitted its final proposal revision on December 30, 1998; Ashe on January 2, 1999. There were no changes to either technical proposal. The SSB met on January 13, 1999, to consider the TEB and PEB reports. The SSB came to three conclusions: First, that J & D’s higher price was not justified; second, that [an advantage of Ashe’s bid] did justify its FFP price; and finally, Ashe’s [bid strategy] was acceptable business practice.

An SSB Post-Negotiation Business Clearance Report was also apparently drafted on and dated January 13, 1999. However, from the chairman of the SSB’s declaration it would seem the Report was not actually signed until February 25, 1999. J & D cites this anomaly as the second defect in the AR.

The SSA and the SSB met on either February 25th or 28th, 1999. The SSA reviewed the TEB’s ratings and determined that the downgrading of Ashe’s overall technical rating was unwarranted. The SSA further determined that Ashe’s proposal, which should have been rated Highly Satisfactory and which was lower in price than J & D’s, [535]*535represented the best value to the government. At some point thereafter the SSB added an addendum to its report finding J & D and Ashe’s proposals technically equivalent, rejecting the TEB’s downgrading of Ashe’s proposal to Acceptable, and elevating Ashe’s rating to Highly Satisfactory. The SSA agreed and on March 1, 1999, approved the award to Ashe for the basic requirement amount of $1,873,235.04.

On March 11, 1999, J & D filed a protest with the Government Accounting Office (“GAO”). J & D argued that Ashe’s proposal should have been rejected as unacceptable, arguing that Ashe failed to demonstrate understanding of, and ability to perform the work effort required; that Ashe failed to address adequately the employee qualifications subfactor; that Ashe failed to submit an adequately detailed workplan for the indefinite quantity work; that Ashe’s description of its purchasing system was inadequate; and that Ashe did not submit a quality control plan. For purposes of J & D’s challenge before this Court, J & D also argued that Ashe deviated from the terms of the solicitation by submitting an unbalanced offer. J & D did not challenge the agency’s IQ estimates. The GAO denied J & D’s protest in its entirety on June 18, 1999.

J & D then sought reconsideration, at this stage apparently adding to its position a challenge to the estimates the Navy used in its solicitation for IQ options. The relevance and validity of these estimates become significant during our discussion of J & D’s theories.

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

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
45 Fed. Cl. 532, 1999 U.S. Claims LEXIS 295, 1999 WL 1335047, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/j-d-maintenance-services-v-united-states-uscfc-1999.