Paxson Electric Co. v. United States

34 Cont. Cas. Fed. 75,483, 14 Cl. Ct. 634, 1988 U.S. Claims LEXIS 61, 1988 WL 32847
CourtUnited States Court of Claims
DecidedApril 13, 1988
DocketNo. 591-86C
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 34 Cont. Cas. Fed. 75,483 (Paxson Electric Co. v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of Claims primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Paxson Electric Co. v. United States, 34 Cont. Cas. Fed. 75,483, 14 Cl. Ct. 634, 1988 U.S. Claims LEXIS 61, 1988 WL 32847 (cc 1988).

Opinion

OPINION

ANDEWELT, Judge.

In this Government contract action, plaintiff, Paxson Electric Company, Inc. (Paxson), seeks to recover its bid preparation costs in connection with an unsuccessful effort to secure a contract from the Naval Facilities Engineering Command, TRIDENT (the Navy). Plaintiff contends that the selection official’s decision to award the contract to another firm was arbitrary and capricious, and that the Navy violated controlling regulations when it failed in its Request for Proposals (RFP) to list the applicable bid proposal elements (technical, price, and management) in order of relative importance. The action is presently before the Court on defendant’s motion for summary judgment. For the reasons set forth herein, defendant’s motion is granted and the complaint will be dismissed.

Facts1

A. The Procurement

The procurement at issue covers the design and provision of a computerized operation control system known as a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system. The SCADA system is intended to monitor and control the electrical power distribution system, street traffic lights, and sewer system at a Naval Submarine Base being constructed in Kings Bay, Georgia, for the TRIDENT submarine fleet.

The first public notice of the procurement, issued on January 10, 1985, estimated that the SCADA system would cost between $1,000,000 and $5,000,000. The RFP, issued on April 1, 1985, solicited proposals for a firm fixed price contract. The procurement was conducted by competitive negotiation, pursuant to Part 15 of the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR), 48 C.F.R. § 15 (1985).2 Section M of the RFP, entitled Evaluation and Award, sets forth the method by which the proposals were to be evaluated and the terms upon which an award was to be made. Section M, in pertinent part, provides:

1. EVALUATION
1.1 The Government will establish a Board to conduct an evaluation of each proposal received. The Board will consist of technical and procurement personnel. The evaluation will be based exclusively on the content of the proposal, [636]*636[and] any subsequent negotiations required to clarify the proposals....
* * * * * *
1.3 Those proposals which have been properly submitted will be evaluated to determine a competitive range. The relative order of importance of each element of a proposal will be as follows:
Technical
Price
Management
2. AWARD
Once the competitive range is established, an award may be made to that offeror whose proposal is deemed to be the most favorable to the Government.... Following receipt of the best and final offers, each received offer will [be] evaluated and an award will be made to that offeror whose proposal is deemed to be the most favorable to the Government.

An internal Proposal Evaluation Plan (the Plan), which was designated “FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY,” set forth the following point scores and relative weights to be assigned to the proposal elements referenced in Section M of the RFP:

The overall evaluation will include a possible maximum of 10,000 points total in the following three areas:
Area Percentage Points
Technical 45 4,500
Price 45 4,500
Management 10 1,000

The Plan stresses that the award should not necessarily be based solely on the resultant numerical scores. In this regard, the Plan states:

The evaluations of the technical and management factors will be based on the subjective evaluation of the Board members. Because these are subjective evaluations and the price evaluation will be objective, there is no requirement that the Board combine all the numerical scores to arrive at a recommendation for award. The numerical scores derived in accordance with Section 5 [containing guidelines for evaluating price proposals] should be used in the Board’s deliberation to arrive at the award recommendation, but should not limit the Board looking at the entire proposal to determine their recommendation for award.

Section 4 of the Plan, entitled “Technical Evaluation,” sets forth evaluation guidelines for the technical aspects of the proposals. Section 4 reiterates that the technical evaluation is subjective, and that its purpose is to determine how well each proposer responded to the requirements of the RFP. Section 4 also provides that the technical aspects of each proposal shall be broken down into elements and subelements which shall then be rated by an evaluation team. The ratings were to range between zero and one, and a raw technical score was then to be calculated from those ratings. A rating of 0.8 to 1.0 would indicate that the element exceeds the requirements of the RFP, a rating of 0.5 to 0.7 would indicate that the element meets such requirements, a rating of 0.1 to 0.3 would indicate that the element fails to meet the requirements, and a rating of zero would indicate that the element is unacceptable.

Section 5 of the Plan, entitled “Pricing Evaluation,” provides that the pricing evaluation may, but need not, be numerically scored (i.e., may be scored “at the option of the ... Board”) and that:

The pricing evaluation is based on the premise that the lowest proposal is most advantageous to the Navy. The pricing proposal will be used as a standard against which to judge the value of the technical proposal, and not as an addition to the cumulative score of the overall evaluation.

Four firms submitted proposals in response to the RFP, but one firm subsequently withdrew its proposal and another firm’s proposal was later eliminated for being outside the competitive range. Written negotiations were conducted with the two remaining bidders, plaintiff and Engineering Design Group, Inc. (EDG). In letters dated July 6, 1985, the Navy advised both Paxson and EDG that their prices appeared high, and requested that they submit proposed modifications on more favorable terms. In a July 19, 1985, letter, Paxson defended its price, stating that its [637]*637proposed systems were “the best available to the Navy and in many instances far exceed the requirements of the specifications.” On July 30, 1985, Paxson reduced its price, but the Navy again responded that Paxson’s price appeared high. Paxson further reduced its price to $7,737,934 in its best and final offer, which was submitted on September 3, 1985. EDG’s best and final offer, which was also submitted on that day, specified a price of $5,998,170. Paxson’s final price, therefore, was over 27 percent higher than EDG’s price.

B. The Award to EDG

The two proposals were evaluated by a Board established pursuant to the RFP. Upon completion of its evaluation, the Board forwarded to the selecting official, Captain James M.

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

Related

Liberty Mutual Insurance v. United States
70 Fed. Cl. 37 (Federal Claims, 2006)
Ruttenburg v. United States
65 Fed. Cl. 43 (Federal Claims, 2005)
Qwest Corp. v. United States
48 Fed. Cl. 672 (Federal Claims, 2001)
Young-Montenay, Inc. v. United States
15 F.3d 1040 (Federal Circuit, 1994)
Shields Enterprises, Inc. v. United States
38 Cont. Cas. Fed. 76,526 (Federal Claims, 1993)
TRW, Inc. v. United States
38 Cont. Cas. Fed. 76,508 (Federal Claims, 1993)
Meade v. United States
27 Fed. Cl. 367 (Federal Claims, 1992)
Joseph L. DeClerk & Associates, Inc. v. United States
38 Cont. Cas. Fed. 76,312 (Court of Claims, 1992)
Blount, Inc. v. United States
36 Cont. Cas. Fed. 75,981 (Court of Claims, 1990)
Carothers Construction Inc. v. United States
35 Cont. Cas. Fed. 75,758 (Court of Claims, 1989)
Honeywell, Inc. v. United States
35 Cont. Cas. Fed. 75,611 (Court of Claims, 1989)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
34 Cont. Cas. Fed. 75,483, 14 Cl. Ct. 634, 1988 U.S. Claims LEXIS 61, 1988 WL 32847, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/paxson-electric-co-v-united-states-cc-1988.