MG Altus Apache Co. v. United States

102 Fed. Cl. 744, 2012 U.S. Claims LEXIS 39, 2012 WL 286881
CourtUnited States Court of Federal Claims
DecidedJanuary 13, 2012
DocketNo. 11-538C
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 102 Fed. Cl. 744 (MG Altus Apache Co. 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
MG Altus Apache Co. v. United States, 102 Fed. Cl. 744, 2012 U.S. Claims LEXIS 39, 2012 WL 286881 (uscfc 2012).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER GRANTING PLAINTIFF’S MOTION TO SUPPLEMENT THE ADMINISTRATIVE RECORD

WILLIAMS, Judge.

In this post-award bid protest, MG Altus Apache Company (“MG AA”) challenges the awards of multiple contracts by the Department of the Army (“Army”) for trucking services in the Afghanistan Theater of Operations. MG AA alleges that the Army improperly determined MG AA to be nonresponsible.

The matter comes before the Court on MG AA’s Motion to Supplement the Administrative Record (“AR”). MG AA seeks to supplement the AR with correspondence relating to letters of concern and cure notices issued to its joint venture under the prior Afghan trucking contract.2

The Court grants the requested supplementation finding that MG AA listed the prior Afghan trucking contract as a reference to be evaluated in the responsibility determination, and the solicitation expressly provided that corrective action taken to remedy past performance problems would be eonsidered in the responsibility assessment. As such, correspondence describing performance issues and MG AA’s corrective action are central to the Army’s responsibility determination and necessary for the Court’s review of this decision.

Background3

The Solicitation

On February 22, 2011, the Army issued the solicitation for National Afghan Trucking (“NAT”) services in Afghanistan. AR 141. The purpose of the NAT Contract was to provide a secure and reliable means of distributing reconstruction material, security equipment, fuel, miscellaneous dry cargo, and life support assets to and from forward operating bases and distribution sites throughout the combined joint operations area in Afghanistan. The Army anticipated the award of indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contracts for trucking services in three suites: Suite 1, for bulk fuel, Suite 2, for dry cargo, and Suite 3, for heavy cargo. AR 390. The NAT procurement was essentially a follow-on procurement to the prior Host Nation Trucking (“HNT”) contract which had covered substantially the same mission requirements. AR 21220-43.

The solicitation stated the Army would make awards based on Federal Acquisition Regulation (“FAR”) 15.101-2, Lowest Price Technically Acceptable (“LPTA”). Proposals were to be evaluated under two factors, technical capability and price. AR 391. Only technically acceptable proposals would be evaluated for price. Under price, each suite was to be evaluated to determine whether an offeror’s unit prices were fair, reasonable, and balanced. AR 393. The solicitation did not list past performance as a separate evaluation factor but included past performance as an element of the responsibility determination. AR 390-93.

[747]*747The solicitation stated that the responsibility determination was to be based on the following general standards set forth in FAR 9.104-1:

• Offerors must be able to comply with the required or proposed delivery or performance schedule, taking into consideration all existing commercial and governmental business commitments.
• Offerors must have a satisfactory performance record (see FAR 9.104-3(b) and FAR subpart 42.15).
• Offerors must have a satisfactory record of integrity and business ethics.
• Offerors must have the necessary organization, experience, accounting and operational controls, and technical skills, or the ability to obtain them (including, as appropriate, such elements as production control procedures, property control systems, quality assurance measures, and safety programs applicable to materials to be produced or services to be performed by the prospective contractor and subcontractors).
• Offerors must be otherwise qualified and eligible to receive an award under applicable laws and regulations.

AR 393-94. See FAR 9.104-1. The solicitation provided that past performance would be considered as a part of the responsibility determination stating:

A prospective contractor that is or recently has been seriously deficient in contract performance shall be presumed to be nonresponsible, unless the contracting officer determines that the circumstances were properly beyond the contractor’s control, or that the contractor has taken appropriate corrective action. Past failure to apply sufficient tenacity and perseverance to perform acceptably is strong evidence of nonresponsibility. Failure to meet the quality requirements of the contract is a significant factor to consider in determining satisfactory performance.

AR 394 (quoting FAR 9.104—3(b)).

In addition, the solicitation provided that the government would evaluate the responsibility of all subcontractors, as follows:

Generally, prospective prime contractors are responsible for determining the responsibility of their prospective subcontractors; however, it has been determined to be in the Government’s best interest to evaluate the responsibility of all subcontractors, including Private Security Companies (PSCs). Determinations of prospective subcontractor responsibility shall affect the Government’s determination of the prospective prime contractor’s responsibility. A prospective contractor may be required to provide written evidence of a proposed subcontractor’s responsibility. The same standards used to determine a prime contractor’s responsibility shall be used by the Government to determine subcontractor responsibility.

AR 394 (quoting FAR 9.104-3(b)).

As part of their proposals, offerors were required to submit at least three contract references for the prime and for each proposed subcontractor. AR 383. The solicitation stated that “[c]ontraet references should be recent (within the last three years) and relevant (for trucking services in Afghanistan) ____” AR 383. The solicitation provided that the Army would use this information “when evaluating contractor and subcontractor responsibility.” AR 383. Further, the solicitation provided that if the responsibility determination uncovered prior contract performance issues, the contracting officer would consider whether the contractor had taken appropriate corrective action. AR 394.

MGAA’s Offer

MG AA timely submitted its proposal for all three suites on April 5, 2011. AR 4049-332. As part of its proposal, MG AA described MG’s performance under the HNT contract. The proposal stated that MG was the member of the MG AA joint venture with experience operating in the Afghan environment. AR 4092. In response to the solicitation requirement that offerors submit relevant contact references to be used in the responsibility determination, MG AA listed the HNT contract as a reference for itself and three of its proposed subcontractors. AR 4128. Under its technical capabilities for all three suites, MG AA listed its missions [748]*748under the HNT contract as evidence of its past performance as a prime contractor for the United States Government in Afghanistan. AR 4136, 4199, 4273.

The Nonresponsibility Determination

By letter dated July 31, 2011, the contracting officer informed MG AA that it was being evaluated for responsibility and listed seven areas of concern, requesting that MG AA provide responses to each. AR 16244-45.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
102 Fed. Cl. 744, 2012 U.S. Claims LEXIS 39, 2012 WL 286881, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mg-altus-apache-co-v-united-states-uscfc-2012.