Opinion ID: 510204
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Evaluation Subfactors

Text: 9 The Court found that the three bases on which CACI's proposal was declared unacceptable--lack of corporate experience, failure to demonstrate understanding of the scope and requirements of performance work statements, and lack of relevant experience by proposed key personnel--were all stated as evaluation factors or subfactors in the RFP.
10 CACI challenges the Claims Court's finding that the CO utilized the RFP evaluation factors and their relative importance in her decision to declare CACI's proposal technically unacceptable. Once again, however, CACI chooses not to dispute the court's clear finding on lack of prejudice: CACI ... failed to demonstrate that it was prejudiced by any of the differences in relative importance between the RFP evaluation factors and the SSP [Source Selection Plan] evaluation factors. 13 Cl.Ct. at 729. That finding is supported by record evidence and makes unnecessary a response to CACI's arguments regarding other findings.  11 CACI appears to assume that a showing of differences in evaluation factors and weights ipso facto establishes prejudice. As stated by the Claims Court, 13 Cl.Ct. at 728, prejudice is a separate element which must be proven.
12 CACI's argument that the evaluation subfactors and weights were not clearly stated is refuted by the record. Walden (the CACI principal who prepared CACI's proposal) testified that he thought paragraph M.3 of the RFP was additional details on the government's things they intended to look at and evaluate and that he thought that the second sentence of M.3 meant that if we didn't give [each element of M.3] a complete coverage ..., regardless of whether they were ... in the ranked evaluation factors, that we were in danger of being graded unsatisfactory in that particular function.We agree with the Government's argument that Walden's testimony establishes, as a matter of law, that CACI was not prejudiced by the manner in which the evaluation subfactors and weights were stated.