Omega World Travel, Inc. v. United States

54 Fed. Cl. 570, 2002 U.S. Claims LEXIS 326, 2002 WL 31686139
CourtUnited States Court of Federal Claims
DecidedNovember 26, 2002
DocketNo. 02-1199C
StatusPublished
Cited by41 cases

This text of 54 Fed. Cl. 570 (Omega World Travel, Inc. 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
Omega World Travel, Inc. v. United States, 54 Fed. Cl. 570, 2002 U.S. Claims LEXIS 326, 2002 WL 31686139 (uscfc 2002).

Opinion

OPINION

BRUGGINK, Judge.

This post-award bid protest stems from a request for proposal (“RFP”) issued by the Military Traffic Management Command, Department of the Army (“MTMC”) issued on May 3, 2001 for travel services for Army personnel. The contract was awarded to Carlson Wagonlit Government Travel (“Carlson”). Scheduled Airlines Traffic Office (“Sato”) and plaintiff Omega World Travel (“Omega”) brought bid protests in the United States General Accounting Office (“GAO”) on April 19 and April 12, 2001, respectively. After clarification from the Contracting Officer, plaintiff resubmitted its bid protest on May 15, 2002. On August 21, 2002 GAO issued a decision denying all protests. Plaintiff filed this action on September 12, 2002. Carlson intervened on September 24, 2002.

The narrow question posed is whether Omega has demonstrated that the government’s conduct in awarding the contract to Carlson was arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion or otherwise contrary to law. Pending are the parties’ cross-motions for judgment on the administrative record. Oral argument was held on Thursday, November 7, 2002. For reasons explained at the conclusion of oral argument and set out below, plaintiffs motion is denied and defendant’s motion for judgment on the administrative record is granted.

FACTS

On May 3, 20011 the MTMC issued RFP Solicitation Number DAMT01-01-R-0175 seeking proposals for commercial travel services for the Department of the Army.2 The RFP covered official and leisure travel for the Department of Defense (“DoD”) personnel and Army. Carlson was the incumbent under the previous contract for travel services. The Solicitation requested proposals for travel services covering five geographic regions. The contract was for a base period of one year, followed by eight six month option periods for each region. The RFP provided that award would be “based on the best overall value to the government,” considering the evaluation factors cited in the Solicitation. A.R. at 1042.

The RFP indicated that an offeror could “propose on any or all of Regions shown in the schedule.” Administrative Record “AR” at 0576. However, if a contractor wished to submit a proposal for all five regions, the contractors were advised that they could “submit either a separate proposal for each region, or one proposal ... and ... tailor the proposal for each region.” AR. at 3121. The MTMC indicated that it “contemplate[d] the award of multiple Firm-Fixed-Price Contracts) resulting from [the] Solicitation.” AR. at 0576. The proposal indicated that a maximum of five contracts would be awarded, but did not fix any minimum number.

The Solicitation established ninety Contract Line Item Numbers (“CLINs”). Each region had CLINs for traditional travel and on-line booking. Sub-CLINs for air/rail official travel, non air official travel service, and emergency leave were incorporated within on-line booking. Usage data for each region was given by each location with that region. Travel volume and requirements, as well as floor space available to the contractor in each location, were included within the usage data. MTMC indicated that the information was a rough estimate, as some locations did not report statistics in these areas. Amendment Thirteen identified the potential problem with the usage estimates: “a significant number of the non-air transactions listed in the technical exhibits and the non-air CLINs are included in the air/rail transactions technical exhibits and CLINs.” AR. at 1055c. The Amendment also informed the offerors that

[573]*573“[t]he quantities listed in the pricing section of the Solicitation are for evaluation purposes only.” Id. Offerors then provided pricing data by multiplying the estimated travel volume by the offeror’s price.

The RFP enumerated three non-price evaluation factors and one price factor in descending order of importance:

Factor 1 — Acceptability/Capability
Subfactor (a) Understanding of the Work (Traditional Travel Service)
Subfaetor (b) Understanding of the Work (On-line Booking Engine)
Factor 2 — Participation of Small and Small
Disadvantaged Business Concerns
Factor 3 — -Past Performance
Factor 4 — Transaction Fees

The non-price factors were “significantly more important than Transaction Fees (Factor 4).” AR. at 1040.

MTMC provided extensive definitions for the two subfactors within the Acceptability/Capability factor. Traditional travel services, for example, encompassed an offeror’s overall approach to making travel arrangements. This sub-factor addressed the effectiveness of offeror’s reservation procedures, methodology for delivering tickets, customer service, and routine service levels expected throughout the contract. The second subfaetor, on-line booking, would be evaluated on the ability to provide real time booking, and to accept payments from a variety of payment forms. Additionally, the evaluation would focus on the on-line system’s ability to contain DoD and other government travel policies. MTMC made it clear that the usage of an on-line booking system would not be mandatory for Army personnel.

Participation of small business and small disadvantaged business concerns was to be outlined in a narrative no longer than five pages. This narrative was in addition to the offeror’s small business subcontracting plan. Past performance was assessed on an evaluation sheet including information from customers and other government agencies.

MTMC held a pre-proposal conference on May 31, 2001. Representatives from Carlson, Sato, and Omega, along with others, were present. MTMC addressed the topic of multiple award pricing discounts: “[t]here is nothing in the RFP that prohibits this type of pricing submission provided that the offer- or complies with the requirement to price each SUBCLIN within a CLIN.” AR. at 3162, 3629. When questioned as to the number of potential contractors, MTMC was clear that “multiple awards may be made to one or more offerors.” AR. at 3159. MTMC reiterated that performance-based factors, not cost, were the most significant.

Carlson, Sato, and Omega submitted proposals by the deadline of October 22, 2001. All three were considered within the competitive range. Discussions were held with each of the three offerors, after which, they submitted proposal revisions.

Omega included within its proposal what it styled an on-line booking discount. The proposal stated:

Once the Army reaches 10% online usage, Omega will reduce the transaction fee for online bookings to $8.00. This will be evaluated quarterly and the reduced transaction fee will go into effect for the successive quarter. As long as online booking tool usage remains at or above 10%, the $8.00 transaction fee will apply.

In addition, Omega proposed consolidation pricing discounts. These pricing discounts were triggered if MTMC agreed to consolidate smaller offices into larger ones. Additionally, Omega offered a discount if a certain percentage of all travel volume was handled by their centralized call-centers. Omega, however, did not address the impact that these consolidations would have on service nor did it specify how the option would affect overall cost.

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Bluebook (online)
54 Fed. Cl. 570, 2002 U.S. Claims LEXIS 326, 2002 WL 31686139, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/omega-world-travel-inc-v-united-states-uscfc-2002.