Matt Martin Real Estate Management LLC v. United States

96 Fed. Cl. 106, 2010 WL 4910854
CourtUnited States Court of Federal Claims
DecidedDecember 2, 2010
DocketNo. 10-675 C
StatusPublished
Cited by27 cases

This text of 96 Fed. Cl. 106 (Matt Martin Real Estate Management 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
Matt Martin Real Estate Management LLC v. United States, 96 Fed. Cl. 106, 2010 WL 4910854 (uscfc 2010).

Opinion

[109]*109 OPINION 2

HEWITT, Chief Judge.

This is a post-award bid protest brought by Matt Martin Real Estate Management LLC (Matt Martin or plaintiff), an unsuccessful offeror in Solicitation R-OPC-23441 (Solicitation) issued by the United States government acting through the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD, the government or defendant).

Before the court are plaintiffs Motion for Judgment on the Administrative Record, Docket Number (Dkt. No.) 23, filed October 22, 2010; plaintiffs Memorandum in Support of Plaintiffs Motion for Judgment on the Administrative Record (Pl.’s Mem. or plaintiffs Memorandum), Dkt. No. 24, filed October 22, 2010; defendant-intervenor PEMCO Ltd.’s (PEMCO’s) Cross Motion for Judgment on the Administrative Record, Dkt. No. 26, filed October 29, 2010; defendant-interve-nor BLB Resources, Inc.’s (BLB’s) Cross-Motion for Judgment on the Administrative Record Sustaining the Unchallenged Award to BLB Resources, Dkt. No. 27, filed October 29, 2010; defendant-intervenor Ofori & Associates, P.C.’s (Ofori’s) Cross-Motion for Judgment on the Administrative Record, Dkt. No. 28, filed October 29, 2010; defendant’s Motion to Dismiss, or, in the Alternative, Cross-Motion for Judgment upon the Administrative Record and Response to Plaintiffs Motion for Judgment upon the Record (Def.’s Mot.), Dkt. No. 29, filed October 29, 2010; defendant-intervenor HomeTe-los, LP’s (HomeTelos’s) Memorandum in Support of its Cross-Motion for Judgment on the Administrative Record, Dkt. No. 30, filed October 29, 2010; plaintiffs Reply to Defendant’s and Intervenors’ Responses to Plaintiffs Motion for Judgment on the Administrative Record and Plaintiffs Response to Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss and Plaintiffs Response to Defendant’s and Intervenors’ Cross-Motions for Judgment on the Administrative Record (Pl.’s Reply), Dkt. No. 32, filed November 3, 2010; defendant-interve-nor PEMCO’s Reply, Dkt. No. 33, filed November 8, 2010; defendant-intervenor Ofori’s Reply to Plaintiffs Response to Cross-Motion for Judgment on the Administrative Record, Dkt. No. 35, filed November 8, 2010; defendant’s Reply in Support of Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss, or, in the Alternative, Cross-Motion for Judgment upon the Administrative Record, Dkt. No. 36, filed November 8, 2010; and defendant-intervenor HomeTe-los’s Reply in Support of its Cross-Motion for Judgment on the Administrative Record, Dkt. No. 38, filed November 8, 2010.

The court held oral argument at the National Courts Building on Wednesday, November 10, 2010 at 10 a.m. Eastern Standard Time.

Plaintiff contends that by using overall ratings to evaluate each offeror’s proposal HUD made an award decision that was arbitrary and capricious. Pl.’s Mem. 9. Defendant contends that HUD’s award decision had a reasonable basis. Def.’s Mot. 26-27. The court agrees with defendant: HUD’s ultimate selection of the awardees was not arbitrary and capricious.

I. Background

A. The Solicitation

1. The Role of Asset Managers

HUD, acting through the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), runs a homeowner-ship program called the single-family mortgage insurance program, which insures lenders against the risk of loss for loans on single-family homes. Administrative Record (AR) Tab 13, at 405. When borrowers default on their loans, lenders often acquire the [110]*110property by foreclosure or by deed-in-lieu of foreclosure. Id. Lenders insured by the single-family mortgage insurance program then file a claim for benefits from HUD and convey the property to HUD. Id.

As a result of this program and others, HUD has a large inventory of properties, known as Real Estate-Owned (REO) properties, to manage and sell. Id. Since 1999, HUD has relied on outsourcing to Management and Marketing (M & M) vendors, who help to manage and market its REO portfolio. Id. In the past, HUD contracted with single entities to both manage and market its REO properties but, after conducting marketing research of “industry best practices,” it decided to split the responsibilities of M & M vendors and began contracting with Asset Managers (AMs), companies which focus on marketing HUD properties. Id.

On July 6,2009 HUD issued its Solicitation for AMs. AR Tab 13, at 358. The Solicitation was a “Firm Fixed Price type arrangement with multiple awards [to be] issued against the General Service Administration (GSA) Financial and Business Solution (FABS) Schedule 520, in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) Subpart 8.4 Federal Supply Schedule.”3 Id. at 360. HUD invited vendors to submit bids for one or more of ten geographic Homeownership Center Areas (HCAs or Areas). Id.

2. The Evaluation Framework

The Solicitation listed five factors that would be used to evaluate proposals. In descending order of importance, they were:

• FACTOR 1: Socio-Economic [S]tatus
• FACTOR 2: Marketing and Sales Approach
• FACTOR 3: Management Work Plan
• FACTOR 4: Past Performance
• FACTOR 5: Price

Id. at 516. The possible ratings for the non-price factors (factors 1-4 above), in descending order of importance, were “Excellent,” “Very Good,” “Good,” “Fair” and “Unsatisfactory.” AR Tab 10, at 311. The Solicitation stated that “[t]he non-price factors when combined are more important than price.” AR Tab 13, at 516.

The Solicitation also stated that “a best value analysis will be performed to determine the best overall value for the Government within each Homeownership Center Geographic Area_” Id. at 520. While price was to be the least important factor, “as the Offerors [became] more equal in non-price merit, the importance of price to the source selection decision [would] increase.” Id. The Solicitation did not specify the weight to be given to each of the five factors. In fact, Amendment 4 to the Solicitation issued August 28, 2009 stated, “Weights/percentages are not applied to the factors.” AR Tab 14, at 582.

B. The Evaluation of Proposals Submitted for HCAs 3P, 1A, 2A and 2S

Matt Martin submitted a proposal for HCAs 3P, 1A, 2A and 2S. See AR Tab 46. Matt Martin’s proposal was reviewed by a selection team composed of a five-member Technical Evaluation Team (TET) and a Source Selection Official (SSO). See AR Tab 10, at 308. The TET prepared a summary report evaluating each vendor’s initial proposals (Initial Evaluation) and a summary report evaluating each vendor’s revised proposals (Revised Evaluation, collectively with the Initial Evaluation, The Evaluation). See AR Tabs 44, 43. The Initial and Revised Evaluations document HUD’s extensive analysis of each proposal. See id. The Evaluations identify strengths, weaknesses and significant weaknesses of each of the proposals. Id. In their entirety, the reports run to more than 650 pages. Id. After conducting the Initial and Revised Evaluations, the TET prepared a memorandum for the SSO containing its recommendation of source selection for award of task orders (Source Selec[111]*111tion Memorandum). AR Tab 42.

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96 Fed. Cl. 106, 2010 WL 4910854, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/matt-martin-real-estate-management-llc-v-united-states-uscfc-2010.