JAFIT Enterprises, Inc.--Claim for Costs

JAFIT Enterprises, Inc.--Claim for Costs BNUMBER: B-266326.2; B-266327.2 DATE: March 31, 1997 TITLE: JAFIT Enterprises, Inc.--Claim for Costs ********************************************************************** Matter of:JAFIT Enterprises, Inc.--Claim for Costs File: B-266326.2; B-266327.2 Date:March 31, 1997 Quin B. Johnson for the protester. Thomas T. Basil, Esq., Department of the Navy, for the agency. Henry J. Gorczycki, Esq., and James A. Spangenberg, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST 1. Protest costs incurred in connection with agency-level protests are not recoverable. 2. Hours charged by an employee and consultant of a prevailing protester as part of its claim for pursuing its protest are excessive where they are not remotely related to the complexity of the protest; under such circumstances, the General Accounting Office will determine the reasonable hours that a prudent protester should expend in pursuing the protest. 3. Interest on a claim for protest costs awarded by the General Accounting Office is not recoverable. 4. A protester is not entitled to reimbursement of its costs of pursuing its cost claim before the General Accounting Office where the contracting agency's handling of the claim was reasonable and expeditious. DECISION JAFIT Enterprises, Inc. requests that we determine the amount it is entitled to recover from the Department of the Navy for its costs of filing and pursuing its protests in JAFIT Enters., Inc., B-266326; B-266327, Feb. 5, 1996, 96-1 CPD para. 39. We determine that JAFIT is entitled to recover $3,537.82 out of its total claim of $34,513.46. On September 27, 1995, JAFIT protested to our Office the Navy's noncompetitive award of purchase orders to Goodwill Industries which the Navy claimed were authorized under the Javits-Wagner-O'Day Act, 41 U.S.C. sec. 46-48c (1994), as implemented by Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) sec. 6.302-5(b) and subpart 8.7. We sustained the protests because this authority to make noncompetitive acquisitions only applies to awards to qualified nonprofit agencies for the blind or disabled providing goods or services on the procurement list established and maintained by the Committee for Purchase From People Who Are Blind or Severely Disabled, and Goodwill was not on this list for providing the services in question. Following our decision sustaining the protests, which found JAFIT entitled to recover its costs of filing and pursuing the protests, JAFIT filed its claim for costs with the Navy. JAFIT's claim included time sheets covering the period from August 27 through December 15, 1995, for JAFIT's owner/chief executive officer (CEO) and a consultant hired by JAFIT, as well as information to support the hourly rate charged by each individual. JAFIT's CEO charged a total of 47 hours to these protests at a rate of $52.93 for a total cost of $2,487.71. The consultant, the father of JAFIT's CEO, charged JAFIT a total of 396 hours at a rate of $80 totaling $31,680. The consultant also charged JAFIT $345.75 for 6,915 copies at $0.05 per page. JAFIT's total protest cost claim is $34,513.46. The Navy investigated the hourly rates of the CEO and the consultant and accepted them as reasonable. However, the agency determined that the hours charged by both the CEO and the consultant, as well as the number of copies charged by the consultant, were excessive. The parties were unable to resolve their differences, and JAFIT filed its claim here. A protester seeking to recover the costs of pursuing its protest must submit sufficient evidence to support its monetary claim. The amount claimed may be recovered to the extent that the claim is adequately documented and is shown to be reasonable; a claim is reasonable if, in its nature and amount, it does not exceed that which would be incurred by a prudent person in pursuit of the protest. Data Based Decisions, Inc.--Claim for Costs, 69 Comp. Gen. 122 (1989), 89-2 CPD para. 538; E&R, Inc.--Claim for Costs, B-255868.2, May 30, 1996, 96-1 CPD para. 264. Here, although the claim is documented and the charged rates are reasonable, the number of charged hours and copies are grossly excessive or otherwise not allowable. Specifically, although a successful protester is entitled to recover its costs of pursuing a protest at the General Accounting Office (GAO), the costs it incurred which are attributable to an agency-level protest prior to protesting to our Office are not recoverable. Armour of Am., Inc.--Claim for Costs, 71 Comp. Gen. 293 (1992), 92-1 CPD para. 257; Techniarts Eng'g--Claim for Costs, 69 Comp. Gen. 679 (1990), 90-2 CPD para. 152. Here, JAFIT initially protested to the Navy, which denied the protests by letter dated September 18, 1995.