Solute Consulting v. United States

103 Fed. Cl. 783, 2012 U.S. Claims LEXIS 197, 2012 WL 826721
CourtUnited States Court of Federal Claims
DecidedFebruary 28, 2012
DocketNo. 12-37C
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 103 Fed. Cl. 783 (Solute Consulting 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
Solute Consulting v. United States, 103 Fed. Cl. 783, 2012 U.S. Claims LEXIS 197, 2012 WL 826721 (uscfc 2012).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

SWEENEY, Judge.

The protestor in this postaward bid protest challenges the issuance of a task order to another offeror, contending that the agency that issued the task order improperly increased the scope of the underlying contract by waiving certain contractual requirements and by failing to evaluate the task order proposals in accordance with the requirements and criteria set forth in the task order solicitation. It further contends that the agency’s evaluation of the task order proposals was unreasonable and disparate. The court generally possesses jurisdiction to entertain a claim that a task order exceeds the scope of the underlying contract. Here, however, the protestor’s allegations do not concern the scope of the underlying contract, but instead relate solely to the agency’s evaluation of the task order proposals. Accordingly, the court dismisses the protest for lack of jurisdiction.

I. BACKGROUND

The United States Navy (“Navy”) uses the SeaPort-e program, a multiple award contract vehicle, to acquire support services in twenty-two functional areas.1 Am. Compl. ¶ 16; AR 999-1003. Under the program, the [785]*785Navy has awarded over 1,800 indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contracts, Am. Compl. ¶ 16, including one to Solute Consulting (“Solute”) and another to Sentek Consulting, Inc. (“Sentek”),2 AR 936, 992. Each contract contained a description of the work to be acquired in a “Scope of Contract” section:

This [Statement of Work] defines the overarching requirements for providing engineering, technical, and programmatic support services. The Contractor shall, in response to task orders issued under this contract by the Naval Sea Systems Command, Naval Air Systems Command, Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command, Naval Supply Systems Command, Military Sealift Command, Naval Facilities Command, Strategic Systems Programs, and the United States Marine Corps, provide services that potentially span the entire spectrum of mission areas supported by the activities and technical capabilities that comprise the various ordering offices.

Id. at 999. The contracts also included a clause describing the process for issuing task orders to acquire the particular support services required by the Navy. Id. at 1016-22.

On June 3, 2011, the Navy’s Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (“SPA-WAR”) issued task order solicitation N00024-11-R-3332 to acquire support services for the Carrier and Air Integration Program Office (“PMW 750”). Id. at 35-36, 141-43. The solicitation was set aside for small businesses and would result in a eost-plus-fixed-fee task order with an initial term of one year and four additional option years. Id. at 84, 100-01, 113, 134. In accordance with the clause concerning the task order process in the underlying SeaPort-e contracts, SPAWAR intended to issue the task order to the responsible offeror whose proposal was most advantageous to the government under the evaluation criteria set forth in the solicitation. Id. at 118-19,132,181-85, 1018,1021.

The specific support services to be acquired by SPAWAR were described in a Performance Work Statement (“PWS”) included with the task order solicitation. Id. at 94, 138-78. As set forth in the PWS’s “Scope” section, the successful offeror was to perform tasks in the following seven functional areas: program management, financial planning, contracting support, administrative support, production and installation management, acquisition support, and technical support services. Id. at 143. Further, each of the tasks was associated with a particular phase of the performance requirement — the operation and maintenance phase, the production phase, the development phase, or the shipbuilding and conversion phase. Id. at 139,146-73.

Pursuant to the solicitation, offerors were to submit a cost proposal, a technical proposal, and other documents relating to the provision of 102,720 direct labor hours per year. Id. at 86, 119-29. They were further instructed to include the following information in their technical proposals:

1. FACTOR 1 — ORGANIZATIONAL EXPERIENCE — The offeror shall describe the depth and breadth of its experience in performing the tasks described in Section 5 of the PWS using specific examples from other contracts and/or efforts. Specifically address each of the following areas: Program Management, Financial Planning, Contracting Support, Administrative Support, Production and Installation Management, Acquisition Support, and Technical Support. Seven (7) page maximum....
£ FACTOR 2 — MANAGEMENT CAPABILITY — The offeror shall describe its approach for managing the workload associated with this effort as well as any subcontractors which may be utilized to perform the work under this task. The offeror’s management approach shall address each of the following areas: subcontractor management (if applicable), process for ensuring product quality, plan for controlling costs, process to ensure timeli[786]*786ness of deliverables and support products, and method for staffing the task to ensure the most effective and economical performance. Three (3) page maximum. ...
3. FACTOR 3 — ,KEY PERSONNEL— The offeror shall submit eight (8) resumes for Key Personnel. One resume per Functional Area is required. If the proposed individual is not a current employee, the offeror shall provide Letters of Intent signed by the proposed individual indicating availability to perform work under this Task Order upon award. The offeror shall provide resumes only for the Key Personnel. Key Personnel relevant education and experience will be evaluated to assess the Offeror’s ability to perform the requirements identified in Section 5.0 of the PWS. Key Personnel relevant qualifications and experience will be evaluated to assess the Offeror’s ability to perform the requirements identified in Section 5.0 of the PWS....
I FACTOR h — PAST PERFORMANCE — The offeror shall submit up to three (3) Relevant Experience Forms of eontracts/task orders issued in the past three (3) years_ ‘Relevant’ past performance is defined as: work of a similar nature, scope, and complexity as required by ... Section 5.0 of the Performance Work Statement.... If available, the of-feror shall attach the most recent Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System ... evaluation ... for each experience .... The Government reserves the right to use past performance information obtained from sources other than those identified by the offeror in the evaluation of past performance. If no recent/relevant performance record is available, or the of-feror’s performance record is so sparse that no meaningful confidence assessment rating can be reasonably assigned, the result will be a neutral performance assessment, which will neither be used to the advantage or disadvantage of the offeror.

Id. at 126-29.

Upon the receipt of proposals, SPAWAR planned, as set forth in the solicitation, to evaluate them on the following four technical factors, in descending order of importance:

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

Related

Letko v. United States
Federal Claims, 2025
Orbis Sibro, Inc. v. United States
117 Fed. Cl. 446 (Federal Claims, 2014)
Sra International, Inc. v. United States
114 Fed. Cl. 247 (Federal Claims, 2014)
Chameleon Integrated Services, Inc. v. United States
111 Fed. Cl. 564 (Federal Claims, 2013)
Red River Communications, Inc. v. United States
109 Fed. Cl. 497 (Federal Claims, 2013)
American Apparel, Inc. v. United States
108 Fed. Cl. 11 (Federal Claims, 2012)
Golden Manufacturing Co. v. United States
107 Fed. Cl. 264 (Federal Claims, 2012)
Wildflower International, Ltd. v. United States
105 Fed. Cl. 362 (Federal Claims, 2012)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
103 Fed. Cl. 783, 2012 U.S. Claims LEXIS 197, 2012 WL 826721, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/solute-consulting-v-united-states-uscfc-2012.