In a recent decision, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims upheld the Department of Veterans Affairs’ award of a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) set-aside contract to PerformanceEPC, LLC – Greenland JV, LLC (PGJV), a joint venture comprised of PerformanceEPC (PECP), the small business protégé, and Greenland Enterprises, Inc. (Greenland), the mentor company. The protester, RBVETCO, LLC d/b/a Rocky Bleier Construction Group (RBCG), asserted that the agency erroneously evaluated (1) PGJV’s past performance, by relying solely on mentor Greenland’s experience and (2) whether the protégé, PECP, could perform at least forty percent of the joint venture’s work. RBCG alleged the award to PGJV was improper because the protégé, PECP, lacked relevant past performance. The Court, however, determined that the qualifications and past performance of a mentor may counterbalance a protégé’s lack of experience so long as the protégé’s weaknesses and the overall strengths of the mentor and joint venture, as a whole, are assessed in the aggregate. The Court also found that the agency sufficiently considered PECP’s lack of experience and adequately documented how Greenland’s past performance offset PECP’s lack of experience. Additionally, the Court agreed with the agency’s determination that there was no significant countervailing evidence in the joint venture’s proposal to show that the protégé could not perform at least forty percent of the joint venture’s work. 

POV: A small business protégé’s lack of relevant past performance isn’t necessarily a deal-breaker when competing for federal government contracts as long as it is considered and documented in the agency’s evaluation. And a joint venture’s overall qualifications and past performance may offset a protégé’s lack of experience, opening the door to contract awards for joint ventures with a protégé that lacks sufficient experience to compete for and win certain contracts on its own.