When Numbers Fall Short : Unreasonable Mechanical Scoring in Best-Value Tradeoffs

Schoonover & Moriarty – The Government Accountability Office recently sustained a protest on the basis that the Department of the Air Force failed to adequately trade off the strengths and weaknesses of the awardee’s proposal with proposals that were lower technically rated—but less expensive. Whether you are an offeror wanting to secure a best-value tradeoff award, or an agency seeking to insulate itself from a protest, best-value tradeoffs that implement point scores must include qualitative, comparative analyses that justify the agency’s tradeoff selection.