Best Value Decision Minimizing Evaluated Strengths Is Unreasonable; GAO B-414648.2, B-414648.3, Protection Strategies Inc.

Protest challenging the agency’s assignment of strengths is sustained, where the agency did not have sufficient information about the awardee’s proposed personnel to determine that they exceeded the solicitation requirements; and protest challenging the best value tradeoff decision is sustained, where the SSA unreasonably minimized the strengths in the protester’s proposal and its superior past performance; and protest arguing the agency ignored certain assumptions in the protester’s pricing proposal is denied, where the solicitation prescribed a specific methodology from which offerors could not deviate.