Navarro Scored Higher Than Portage for New Legacy Management Support Contract, GAO Says

Navarro Research and Engineering scored higher on its bid for the new Department of Energy Office of Legacy Management support services contract than the Department’s choice for a winner, Portage, according to the Government Accountability Office. The difference in the two contractors’ scores was outlined in the GAO’s decision to sustain a protest Navarro filed against DOE’s decision to award the new contract to Portage, which was publicly released yesterday. According to the GAO, Navarro’s bid scored 940 out of 940 available points and received an “excellent” overall technical rating. Portage’s bid also received an “excellent” overall technical rating, but earned 920 out of 940 points. Navarro’s bid was slightly more expensive than Portage’s—approximately $260 million versus $251 million, according to the GAO decision.

In its protest, Navarro challenged how DOE evaluated the proposal it and Portage had each submitted, and in its decision, the GAO said it sustained Navarro’s protest “on the basis that the agency’s evaluation of proposals was flawed and that some of the discriminators relied upon in the source selection decision were unreasonable.” The GAO went on to say that “we find that the decision was based on several discriminators between Navarro’s proposal and Portage’s that are not supported by the record.” The GAO has recommended that DOE re-evaluate the two companies’ proposals and make a new award decision. Both Navarro and Portage declined to comment on the GAO’s findings yesterday.