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B-418823.3,B-418823.4 1 (2021-01-08)

handle is hein.gao/gaobaechp0001 and id is 1 raw text is: 1O o U.S. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE A Century of Non-Partisan Fact-Based Work 441 G St. N.W. Comptroller General Washington, DC 20548 of the United States DOCUMENT FOR PUBLIC RELEASE The decision issued on the date below was subject to D e s / ' +'a GAO Protective Order. This redacted version has been approved for public release. Matter of: Innovative Management & Technology Approaches, Inc. File: B-418823.3; B-418823.4 Date: January 8, 2021 Richard J. Webber, Esq., and Travis L. Mullaney, Esq., Arent Fox, LLP, for the protester. James W. Norment, Esq., and Hugh R. Overholt, Esq., Ward and Smith, PA, for Epsilon, Inc., the intervenor. Andrew Squire, Esq., Jennifer Seifert, Esq., and Chieko M. Clarke, Department of Commerce, for the agency. John Sorrenti, Esq., and Christina Sklarew, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST 1. Protest is sustained where the awardee's quotation included an assumption that took exception to material requirements in the solicitation and the agency conducted impermissible and unequal discussions only with the awardee to allow it to remove the assumption prior to award. 2. Protest alleging that the agency unreasonably evaluated awardee's quotation is denied where the record shows that the evaluation was reasonable. DECISION Innovative Management & Technology Approaches, Inc. (IMTAS), of Reston, Virginia, protests the decision by the Department of Commerce, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to establish a blanket purchase agreement (BPA) with, and issue two call orders to, Epsilon, Inc., of Weaverville, North Carolina, under request for quotations (RFQ) No. 1333BJ19Q00280146, issued for support of service desk operations. IMTAS argues that Epsilon's quotation was unacceptable because it included an assumption that took exception to material solicitation requirements; that the agency conducted impermissible and unequal discussions when it allowed Epsilon to remove the assumption from its quotation prior to award; and that the agency unreasonably failed to assess a weakness to Epsilon's quotation. We sustain the protest.

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