GAO denies protest of certain VA contracts to Apria
By HME News Staff
Updated 10:34 AM CDT, Thu August 3, 2023
WASHINGTON – The Government Accountability Office has denied a protest by B&B Medical Services of six contracts for in-home oxygen and ventilator services awarded by the Department of Veterans Affairs to Apria Healthcare.
B&B argued that the VA’s solicitation did not properly reflect its requirements, the agency failed to consider a corporate transaction relevant to its evaluation of the awardee's responsibility and technical capability, Apria misrepresented the availability of key personnel, and the agency's best-value tradeoff decision was unreasonable.
The solicitation established that the awards would be made on a best-value tradeoff basis, considering three evaluation factors, listed in descending order of importance: experience, price and service-disabled veteran-owned small business/veteran-owned. Proposals were due Jan. 18, 2021, and the contracts were awarded to Apria on March 30, 2022, the day after Owens & Minor finalized its acquisition of Apria.
On March 30, 2022, the VA awarded contracts for all six geographic areas to Apria, B&B protested and on April 11, 2022, the GAO dismissed B&B’s protest after the agency stated that it would take corrective action by reevaluating proposals and making a new award decision.
On April 7, 2023, the VA again made an award to Apria for all geographic areas.
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