For Federal Supply Schedule procurements, agencies are not required to evaluate past performance references of subcontractors, unless the solicitation provides otherwise.

As one offeror recently discovered in Atlantic Systems Group, Inc., B-413901 (Jan. 9, 2017), unlike negotiated procurements, where agencies “should” evaluate the past performance of subcontractors that will perform major or critical aspects of the contract, offerors bidding under FSS solicitations should not assume that a subcontractor’s past performance will be considered.

Atlantic Systems involved a solicitation for technical, engineering, management, operation, logistical, and administrative support for the Department of Education’s cybersecurity risk management program. The solicitation was set aside for SDVOSB concerns that held Schedule 70 contracts.

Pursuant to the solicitation, offerors were to be evaluated for both corporate experience and past performance. In order to enable the agency to conduct the past performance/experience evaluation, each “offeror” was to provide evidence of the experience “of the organization” with similar projects or contracts.

For corporate experience, offerors were to provide between 3 and 5 performance examples that demonstrated the offeror’s capabilities “with similar projects or contracts, in terms of the nature and objectives of the project or contract; types of activities performed; studies conducted; and major reports produced.” Similarly, under the past performance factor, offerors were to provide between 3 and 5 performance examples “performed in the past [3] years that were similar in size, scope, and complexity” to the solicitation. The solicitation did not specify how the agency would treat a subcontractor’s past performance.

Under both corporate experience and past performance categories, Atlantic Systems provided two examples of its own performance and two examples from its subcontractor. In its evaluation, the agency did not consider the subcontractor’s past performance. Rather, “since the solicitation asked for experience and past performance for the organization, offeror, the agency only considered the information provided for the entities in whose name the offers were submitted.” Based in part on this determination, the agency rated Atlantic Systems as “does not possess” for corporate experience, and “neutral” for past performance. The agency awarded the order to a competitor.

Atlantic Systems filed a bid protest at GAO. Atlantic Systems contended, in part, that the agency had erred by failing to consider the past performance and experience of its subcontractor. Atlantic Systems pointed out that in a prior bid protest, Singleton Enterprises, B-298576 (Oct. 30, 2006), GAO sustained the protest, holding that the solicitation contained a “latent defect”: the agency had reasonably concluded that “offeror” meant only the prospective prime contractor; the protester had reasonably believed otherwise.

But Singleton was a negotiated procurement; offers were evaluated under FAR Part 15. FAR 15.305(a) states that agencies “should” consider the past performance of a subcontractor that will perform major or critical aspects of the contract. FAR 15.305(a) was central to GAO’s ruling in Singleton, because it created a reasonable expectation that a subcontractor’s past performance would be considered.

Here, in contrast, “the solicitation was issued pursuant to FAR part 8,” which applies to FSS procurements. FAR Part 8 “does not suggest that in evaluating an offeror’s past performance an agency should also consider the past performance of its proposed subcontractors.” Accordingly, “we do not find that the solicitation here is ambiguous, and it was reasonable for the agency to consider the experience and past performance of the offeror (i.e., the entity that submitted the offer) and not its subcontractors.”

As a policy matter, it’s fair to wonder if the underlying rule for consideration of a subcontractor’s past performance should vary depending on which Part of the FAR applies to the acquisition. But as a practical matter, Singleton Enterprises stands for an important principle: if an FSS solicitation does not specifically indicate that a subcontractor’s past performance will be considered, there is no guarantee that it will be.