Protester’s Failure to Identify Proposed Employees by Security Clearance Level Communicated Lack of Understanding or Inability to Meet Requirement; B-413421, Abacus Technology Corporation; SMS Data Products Group Inc.

Protests challenging the agency’s evaluation of proposed staffing are denied, where the protesters failed to submit sufficient information demonstrating the experience and certifications of proposed employees, and failed to propose employees with the required security clearances for the corresponding work sites; and protest challenging the agency’s discussions as misleading is denied, where the agency pointed out problems with the protester’s staffing plan several times, to no avail; and protest challenging the agency’s decision not to request clarifications is denied, where the agency reasonably concluded that the protester’s failure to propose staff with appropriate security clearances was not a simple clerical error and demonstrated a lack of understanding or inability to fulfill the requirement; and protest challenging the agency’s evaluation of the awardee’s proposal is denied, where the awardee’s decision to propose optional personnel for optional tasks contemplated by the solicitation did not amount to an exception to the fixed-price nature of the contract.