Successful Protest Leads To Award

In ASRC Research & Tech. Solutions, Inc.(Aug. 21, 2008), GAO found that (1) NASA had unreasonably concluded that the proposed labor rates of the protester (represented by C&M) to capture incumbent personnel presented significant technical risk when NASA did not know whether the protester's rates, which were based on weighted average rates that accounted for the percentage of personnel assigned to each labor category, were any better reflection of the individual incumbent rates than the straight average labor rates relied on by NASA; and (2) NASA's past performance evaluation unreasonably failed to consider the substantial size difference between the awardee's past performance references and the contemplated contract. GAO left NASA with few options for its reevaluation of the technical proposals and specifically instructed NASA both to remove the "Significant Weakness" that had been improperly assigned to the protester and adjust its point scores and ratings accordingly, which led to a contract award to the protester.