Culmen International, LLC (B-422969)

You should not care.

Category: Technical evaluation, best value tradeoff, discussions

Date: 20 December 2024

URL: https://www.gao.gov/products/b-422969

Culmen International, LLC, protested the issuance of a task order to PAE Applied Technologies LLC (Amentum) under a US Air Force solicitation for counterdrug, counter-organized crime, and counterterrorism support. Culmen alleged improper evaluation of technical subfactors, misleading discussions, and an unreasonable best value tradeoff.

Evaluation of technical proposal: Culmen challenged the lack of additional strengths for its staffing strategies, incentive plans, and technical solutions. GAO upheld the agency's judgment, noting that the proposal merely met solicitation requirements without exceeding them. The protest was denied. GAO found the Air Force’s discussions, evaluations, and tradeoff analysis reasonable and aligned with solicitation requirements.

Digest

1. Protest alleging the agency’s discussions were misleading and coercive is denied where the agency addressed legitimate concerns in the protester’s proposal and provided the protester with an opportunity to address the concerns.
2. Protest challenging the agency’s evaluation of proposals is denied where the evaluation was reasonable and in accordance with the terms of the solicitation.
3. Protest that the agency failed to conduct a proper best-value tradeoff analysis is denied where protester fails to demonstrate that the tradeoff was unreasonable.