Hellenic Technodomiki, S.A.

B-265931 Jan 18, 1996 Jump To VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Where one venturer under the terms of the joint venture agreement was fully responsible for the work and possessed the required category H license. Bid allegedly containing some below-cost line item prices is not unbalanced. Where the bid is not alleged to contain overstated prices for other line items. That its low bid price was unreasonable and unbalanced. Contained the following qualification requirement: "BIDDER'S QUALIFICATIONS: Before a bid is considered for award. The low responsive bidder will be requested to submit . . . proof that the firm is of the overall . . . category classification "H" licensed under Greek laws and regulations (Greek Ministry of Environment. If the bidder is unable to provide this information it may be considered nonresponsible and will not be further considered for award.". View Decision Matter of: Hellenic Technodomiki, S.A. File: B-265931 Date: January 18, 1996 The procuring agency reasonably determined that a joint venture satisfied the solicitation's definitive responsibility criterion that a contractor possess a category H license under Greek Law, where one venturer under the terms of the joint venture agreement was fully responsible for the work and possessed the required category H license. Bid allegedly containing some below-cost line item prices is not unbalanced, where the bid is not alleged to contain overstated prices for other line items. Attorneys DECISION Hellenic Technodomiki, S.A. protests the award of a contract to Themeliodomi, S.A. and Contracting, Ltd., a joint venture, under invitation for bids (IFB) No. N62470-94-B-4044, issued by the Naval Facilities Engineering Command for construction work in Crete, Greece. Hellenic contends that the awardee fails to meet a definitive responsibility criterion, and that its low bid price was unreasonable and unbalanced. We deny the protest. The IFB, which sought a contractor to perform various construction projects, contained the following qualification requirement: "BIDDER'S QUALIFICATIONS: Before a bid is considered for award, the low responsive bidder will be requested to submit . . . proof that the firm is of the overall . . . category classification "H" licensed under Greek laws and regulations (Greek Ministry of Environment, Planning and Public works Presidential Decree 368 dated 30 November 1994) to undertake the construction of this project. If the bidder is unable to provide this information it may be considered nonresponsible and will not be further considered for award." At bid opening, the Navy received 13 bids. The low bid was submitted by Themeliodomi/Contracting, while the next low, responsive bid was submitted by Hellenic. With respect to satisfying the qualification requirement, Themeliodomi possessed an H category classification license and its joint venturer, Contracting, possessed a Z category license. [1] Their joint venture agreement stated that each party would provide the necessary specialized personnel and equipment to perform the project, would equally share in any profit or damage, and Themeliodomi, by virtue of its H class license, would have full responsibility for the project. Based upon this information, the Navy determined that Themeliodomi/Contracting satisfied the bidder's qualifications requirement. Hellenic protests that the qualification requirement is a definitive responsibility criterion which the joint venture does not satisfy because only Themeliodomi possesses an overall H class license. Specifically, Hellenic asserts that Greek presidential decree 609, which is referenced by presidential decree 368, provides the rules for bidding on Greek public works projects and states as follows: [2] "Joint ventures of firms of the same category are accepted in the bidding unless otherwise provided in the call for tenders. The joint venturers must all belong to the class which is called out in the bidding. If so provided in the call for tenders, one of the joint venturers can belong to the class called out, and the others may belong to one or two of the immediately lower classes. In such latter case, the firm or firms must hold at least 75 percent of the shares." Hellenic argues that, under decree 609, the Themeliodomi/Contracting joint venture cannot be viewed as holding an H class license, because only Themeliodomi possesses an class H license and the venturers have equal ownership interest in the joint venture. Definitive responsibility criteria are specific and objective standards established by an agency as a precondition to award that are designed to measure a prospective contractor's ability to perform the contract. See Federal Acquisition Regulation Sec. 9.104.2; T. Warehouse Corp., B-248951, Oct. 9, 1992, 92-2 CPD Para. 235.