IDEA International, Inc. v. United States

The Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) (defendant) issued a solicitation for a task order to provide online homeschooling services to children of military and DoD personnel in remote overseas locations. The solicitation was limited to contractors holding Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) contracts; however, the solicitation did not specify that contractors must use subcontractors holding FSS contracts. The solicitation stated that proposals would be evaluated under a best-value procurement analysis using three factors: technical, past performance, and price. IDEA International, Inc. (IDEA) (plaintiff) and ICATT Consulting, Inc. (ICATT) both submitted proposals. IDEA had previously provided online homeschooling services for children of military personnel. ICATT provided curriculum administration and development services but did not have homeschooling experience. To cover for ICATT’s lack of homeschooling experience, ICATT teamed up with World Wide IDEA (WWIDEA), a non-FSS subcontractor that provided homeschooling services. DoDEA evaluated both proposals and found that IDEA scored slightly higher on the technical and past-performance factors but that ICATT’s price was lower. DoDEA awarded the task order contract to ICATT. IDEA filed a bid protest, arguing that the task order contract was improperly awarded to ICATT because (1) ICATT’s subcontractor, WWIDEA, did not hold a FSS contract; and (2) DoDEA failed to reasonably explain why ICATT’s proposal represented the best value to the government. DoDEA countered, arguing that, under the Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act (FASA), the Court of Federal Claims did not have jurisdiction over IDEA’s FSS bid protest. During the pendency of IDEA’s action, ICATT provided homeschooling services, and DoDEA paid ICATT approximately $1.6 million.