ASBCA 59414

ARMED SERVICES BOARD OF CONTRACT APPEALS Appeal of -- ) ) Rhodes Research ) ASBCA No. 59414 ) Under Contract No. W9124D-14-P-0133 ) APPEARANCE FOR THE APPELLANT: Ms. Stephenne L. Rhodes Owner APPEARANCES FOR THE GOVERNMENT: Raymond M. Saunders, Esq. Army Chief Trial Attorney MAJ Jamal A. Rhinehardt, JA Trial Attorney OPINION BY ADMINISTRATIVE JUDGE PAUL This is a timely appeal of a contracting officer's (CO's) final determination of appellant Rhodes Research's (Rhodes') settlement proposal following the termination of its commercial items contract for the convenience of the government. The Contract Disputes Act, 41 U.S.C. §§ 7101-7109, is applicable. The CO found that Rhodes had completed work in the amount of $7, 186.21; and Rhodes contends that it is entitled to an additional payment. We deny the appeal. FINDINGS OFF ACT 1. The Army promulgated Solicitation No. W9124D-14-Q-5105 in order to install a new audio/visual (A/V) system in the chapel at Fort Knox, Kentucky. This was a small business set-aside, and the end date for submitting bids was 10 February 2014 at "13:30 EST." (R4, tab 3) A detailed Performance Work Statement (PWS) accompanied the solicitation. Subparagraph 1.1, "Scope of Work," described the contractor's general responsibilities, in part, as follows: 1.1 ... The contractors [sic] shall design and install [a] sanctuary eight speaker system, video teleconference system, video presentation system, mixing console, and bluray player. This is a non- personnel services contract to provide the removal of old A/V equipment and installation of an audio and video solution to include multimedia capabilities. (R4, tab 2 at 1)  2. An "EQUIPMENT LIST" attached to the PWS described the various components to be installed in detail to include 45 specific components. All of the components were listed by brand name and model number. For example, the contractor was required to install four Bose Room Match speakers, four Bose Panaray 31 OM speakers, two Bose PowerMatch amplifiers, a BSS Soundweb signal processor, a Radial Engineering Pro Class Passive 1 Channel Multimedia Direct Box with RCA inputs, a Sennheiser Wireless Microphone system, a Countryman E6 directional earset, a Sennheiser Active splitter kit, an Evolution G3 Rackmount kit, and a Sharp BD-AMS20U Blu-ray DVD player. In addition, the contractor was to install a Furman PS-8RII Sequenced Power Distribution System, a Furman MP-20 Duplex Outlet amplifier, a Soundcraft Expression 1 sound system, an AMX panoramic tabletop touch panel, a Mediasite RL HD-SDI Media Recorder, a Vaddio High Definition Camera Control System, a Vaddio Production View Rack, Vaddio Pre View rack mount monitors, a WallView CCU HD-19 CAT-5 system to enable adjustments of color balance and brightness, a Cisco Codec C40 system, a ChiefRPMAU Medium Duty Universal Projector Mount, a Da-Lite wall screen, and a Roland grand piano. (R4, tab 1 at 1-3) The solicitation required bidders "to submit bids that either meet or exceed the requested specification." It also stated: "Sellers MUST enter exactly what they are bidding (including make, model, and description) .. .in order for the bid to be considered." (R4, tab 4 at 3) 3. The Army received five bids in response to the solicitation. The highest bid was $293,080.32; Rhodes submitted the lowest bid of $205,897. (R4, tab 5 at 2) 4. In its bid, Rhodes stated that it was "an authorized vendor for all the products listed" in its bid and that its "personnel have completed all necessary manufacturer's certifications" (R4, tab 4 at 8). As a part of its bid, Rhodes offered to supply virtually all of the equipment set forth in the solicitation, including the Bose speakers and amplifiers (id. at 30-32). However, at the time when it submitted its bid, Rhodes was not an authorized dealer or vendor of Bose products. Moreover, it had not received any training on Bose systems, nor was it certified on Bose speakers. In early 2014, Bose examined Rhodes' application to become a Bose dealer and denied it (exs. G-4, -7 at 14-19; tr. 1/52-57). 1 5. On 27 February 2014, the Army awarded Rhodes Contract No. W9124D-14-P-0133 in a total, fixed-price amount of $205,897. Item No. 1 was the AN equipment and was 1 We deny Rhodes' motion for ruling on the applicability of the deposition of Mr.