Madison Services, Inc. (B-423030.2; B-423030.3)

You should not care.

Category: Technical evaluation, price reasonableness, best value tradeoff

Date: 25 June 2025

URL: https://www.gao.gov/products/b-423030.2%2Cb-423030.3

Madison Services protested the National Park Service’s RFQ for preventative maintenance on Alcatraz Island, challenging NPS’s technical evaluation, its price reasonableness analysis comparing the awardee’s higher price to an incumbent baseline, and the best value tradeoff. After corrective action and limited discussions, the agency lowered Madison’s technical rating based on insufficiently specific, PWS‑tied methods and staffing, while crediting the awardee’s more detailed, system‑specific approach; GAO deferred to the agency’s reasoned judgments under FAR part 13 and found the higher price justified by small‑business start‑up realities and Alcatraz logistics.

NPS’s initial award to Unify Now led to agency corrective action, targeted discussions, and an expanded page limit. Madison’s revised write‑up remained generic (not keyed to PWS tasks or concrete staffing), so their technical rating dropped from acceptable to marginal, while Unify Now’s detailed methods and on‑island teaming remained strengths; the agency reawarded to Unify Now at a 28 percent premium.

Protest denied. Under simplified acquisition, GAO will not recalibrate well‑documented qualitative judgments; vendors should tie approaches to each PWS task with concrete methods and staffing, and agencies may rationally pay a premium where performance risk differs materially.

Digest

1. Protest challenging the agency’s evaluation of quotations is denied where the agency’s evaluation was reasonable and consistent with the terms of the solicitation.
2. Protest that the agency performed a flawed best-value determination is denied where the agency’s tradeoff was reasonable and consistent with the terms of the solicitation.