Mission Essential Group, LLC (B-422698.2)

You should care.

Category: LPTA, DFARS, acquisition planning

Date: 8 January 2025

URL: https://www.gao.gov/products/b-422698.2

The Mission Essential Group, LLC, protested a fair opportunity proposal request (FOPR) issued by the US Air Force under an IDIQ contract for pilot augmentation support services in Europe and Africa. The company challenged the solicitation's use of a lowest price, technically acceptable (LPTA), award methodology, asserting that the evaluation criteria violated regulatory requirements and were unduly restrictive.

GAO found the agency's decision to use LPTA criteria was unjustified, as the solicitation failed to define minimum requirements clearly, lacked evidence that exceeding minimum requirements provided no value, and did not demonstrate compliance with life cycle cost evaluations. Additionally, the Air Force did not avoid LPTA criteria “to the maximum extent practicable” for acquiring knowledge-based professional services, as required by the DFARS.

Clarity of minimum requirements: The solicitation's vague descriptions left offerors unsure of acceptable proposal standards.

Value of exceeding minimum standards: The solicitation sought unique approaches, contradicting the claim that exceeding minimums offered no value.

Life cycle costs: The Air Force lacked a valid determination that the lowest price reflected full life cycle costs.

The protest was sustained. GAO recommended revising the solicitation to comply with regulatory requirements, potentially reconsidering the award methodology, and reimbursing the protester’s costs.

Digest

Protest that a solicitation improperly provides for award on a lowest-price, technically acceptable (LPTA) basis is sustained where the agency unreasonably determined that the statutory and regulatory requirements for use of LPTA award criteria were satisfied.