Hewitt, Olson Capital Recovery Group, Inc.--Reconsideration

B-261856.3 Oct 31, 1996 Jump To VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Decision denying protest that awardee's bid for broker services was unbalanced is affirmed since although protester challenges conclusion of original decision that awardee's bid did not include an understated broker fee. Regardless of whether the broker fee was understated bid still was not unbalanced because it did not include an overstated price for other work. Inc. for exclusive listing broker services and related services should not have been accepted for award. Olson's contention that Palm Beach's bid should have been rejected because Palm Beach submitted multiple bids. We concluded that Palm Beach's bid was not unbalanced since it did not contain understated or overstated prices. Olson argued that Palm Beach's broker fee was understated. View Decision Matter of: Hewitt, Olson Capital Recovery Group, Inc.--Reconsideration File: B-261856.3 Date: October 31, 1996 Decision denying protest that awardee's bid for broker services was unbalanced is affirmed since although protester challenges conclusion of original decision that awardee's bid did not include an understated broker fee, regardless of whether the broker fee was understated bid still was not unbalanced because it did not include an overstated price for other work. Attorneys DECISION Hewitt, Olson Capital Recovery Group, Inc. requests that we reconsider our decision Hewitt, Olson Capital Recovery Group, Inc., B-261856, Nov. 7, 1995, 95-2 CPD Para. 210, in which we denied its protest that the bid of Palm Beach Realty Services, Inc. for exclusive listing broker services and related services should not have been accepted for award. Hewitt, Olson contends that our decision contains errors of fact and law which require its reversal. We affirm our decision. In our prior decision, we rejected Hewitt, Olson's contention that Palm Beach's bid should have been rejected because Palm Beach submitted multiple bids. We also found to be untimely the protester's challenge to the evaluation scheme in the solicitation. Finally, we concluded that Palm Beach's bid was not unbalanced since it did not contain understated or overstated prices. In this respect, although Hewitt, Olson argued that Palm Beach's broker fee was understated, we concluded otherwise because the fee was approximately the same as Hewitt, Olson's fee, which presumably was reasonable and not understated. Hewitt, Olson first contends that we mistakenly concluded that Palm Beach's broker fee of 2.9 percent was not understated since Hewitt, Olson's fee was only 3.289 percent--only slightly higher--and Hewitt, Olson did not state that its own fee was understated. Hewitt, Olson now explains that its own broker fee in fact was understated which, according to Hewitt, Olson supports its contention that Palm Beach's broker fee was understated. The firm also argues that the awardee's lawn maintenance price was overstated, resulting in an unbalanced bid. Regardless of whether Palm Beach's bid included an understated broker fee, we are unconvinced, as we were when we issued the original decision, that Palm Beach's lawn maintenance price was overstated. The agency determined that Palm Beach's price of $110 per month, per property, for lawn service was not unreasonable. Although the agency initially estimated the cost of the lawn service work to be $53, after bid opening the agency reviewed its estimate and concluded that the cost of this work would be higher. The agency based its revised estimate on a wage of $6.35 per hour (using the applicable Department of Labor wage determination) and an estimate of 8 hours per property, per month, to derive a base labor cost of $50.80 per month. The agency then added overhead of 25 percent and profit of 10 percent, which resulted in a monthly cost of approximately $70 per property. According to the agency, its estimate includes the cost of an initial cleanup of each property, which agency officials believe will take an average of 5 hours, or $75. [1] The agency reports that its estimate includes no costs for equipment or landfill charges and the overhead and profit estimates are conservative. In addition, the agency notes that these calculations assume the contractor would be able to locate workers willing to work for the specified minimum wage and argues that the estimate of 8 hours per month also is conservative, considering the sub-tropical weather in south Florida and the resulting rapid plant growth. In addition to its calculations, the agency reports that it contacted lawn maintenance firms and that three gave estimates of $90, $100, and $100 per month for similar services.