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B-400325.3 1 (2009-02-19)

handle is hein.gao/gaobadatl0001 and id is 1 raw text is: G A 0 Comptroller General Accountability * Integrity * Reliability of the United States United States Government Accountability Office DOCUMENT FOR PUBLIC RELEASE Washington, DC 20548 The decision issued on the date below was subject to a GAO Protective Order. This redacted version has been approved for public release. Decision Matter of: Arc-Tech, Inc. File: B-400325.3 Date: February 19, 2009 Andrew P. Hallowell, Esq., Pargament & Hallowell, PLLC, for the protester. Richard G. Bergeron, Esq., Department of Health and Human Services, for the agency. Jennifer D. Westfall-McGrail, Esq., and Christine S. Melody, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Agency may not exclude from the competitive range a proposal that has not been determined technically unacceptable without taking into account the proposal's price. DECISION Arc-Tech, Inc., of Ashburn, Virginia, protests the exclusion of its proposal from the competitive range under request for proposals (RFP) No. 263-2008-P(GG)-0238, issued by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for custodial services at National Institutes of Health buildings located in Bethesda, Rockville, and Poolesville, Maryland. The protester argues that the agency's evaluation of its proposal was unreasonable and that the agency improperly failed to consider price in its competitive range determination. We sustain the protest. The RFP, which was set aside for competition among 8(a) firms,' contemplated the award of a fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for a base and 4 option years. The procurement was conducted using the procedures under Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) part 12 for the acquisition of commercial items. The 'The solicitation advised offerors that pursuant to a partnership agreement between the Small Business Administration (SBA) and HHS, SBA had delegated to HHS the authority to enter into 8(a) contracts directly with eligible 8(a) firms.