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Army Correct In Rejecting AC4S' Proposal Due To Mistaken Omission, GAO Says(Targeted News Service Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) by KEN BLACK Targeted News Service WASHINGTON, June 21 -- A bid protest from AC4S, Tampa, Fla., concerning the elimination of its proposal for providing information technology services to the Army was denied, the Government Accountability Office said. According to the proposal (B-404811.2), the information technology support services were to be used to help the Army meet infrastructure and information goals. The Army provided a list of its objectives and it was up to those companies responding to come up with the best way to meet or exceed those objectives. The contract also established performance metrics so that progress could be judged. The Army considered three factors to be the most critical in determining success: mission support, performance risk and price. Mission support also had three subfactors including corporate capability, management approach and quality control programs. A total of 50 proposals were evaluated. AC4S received a red flag under the management approach subfactor, which caused the entire proposal to be unacceptable and the award was made to others. The Army said AC4S' proposal altered a metric by omitting a phrase pertaining to subcontracting. AC4S said the omission was inadvertent and was not intended. AC4S said the issue could have been cleared up through further discussions and clarifications, but the Army awarded contracts without further discussions. In denying the protest, Lynn H. Gibson, general counsel for the GAO, said, "Clarifications may not be used to cure proposal deficiencies or material omissions, materially alter the technical or cost elements of the proposal, or revise the proposal." A full copy of the report is available at: http://www.gao.gov/decisions/bidpro/4048112.htm Participants: 1. AC4S, Tampa, Fla., http://www.ac4s.com/ ***** Ken Black is a Targeted News Service writer based in Marshalltown, Iowa. For more information about Targeted News Service products and services, please contact: Myron Struck, editor, Targeted News Service LLC, Springfield, Va., 703/304-1897; [email protected]; http://targetednews.com. 23KenBlack0620-db-1051766 (c) 2011 Targeted News Service |