Ashe Facility Services, Inc.

B-292218.4 March 31, 2004

[Note: This same information appears under multiple IDs: B-292218.4, B-292218.3

Protest:

Ashe Facility Services, Inc. protests the award of a contract to Kira, Inc. for base operating support services at two Navy installations in Florida under request for proposals (RFP) No. N69272-03-R-1010, issued by the Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC). Ashe principally alleges that the RFP's price evaluation provision contained a latent ambiguity and that the agency improperly evaluated its proposal, as well as the proposal submitted by Kira.

Decision:

We sustain the protest

Decision Summary:

1. Protest is sustained where solicitation contained an ambiguity regarding whether the agency intended to include indefinite-quantity prices in its evaluation of total price or whether the agency intended to evaluate indefinite-quantity prices solely for reasonableness. Because the ambiguity was latent, the issue was timely when raised after award.

2. Protest that agency improperly failed to consider the protester's key personnel under the corporate experience factor is sustained where the record reveals that the agency considered the awardee's key personnel when it evaluated the awardee's corporate experience.

3. Protest that awardee's proposal contained material misrepresentations regarding its status as a qualified Historically Underutilized Business Zone (HUBZone) small business concern is dismissed; protest ultimately involves issue of whether awardee was a qualified HUBZone concern, a matter within the exclusive statutory authority of the Small Business Administration.