Nueva Construction Company, Inc.

B-270009 Jan 16, 1996 Jump To VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Two hand-carried bids were delivered to Room 204 and stamped in at 2:55 p.m. A similar announcement was made at 2:59 p.m. He states that the secretary was the only other person in the vicinity. Since the bid was too thick for the secretary to fit it into the stamping device. The bid opening officer was in the process of opening and reading the second bid when the secretary entered Room 207A with the protester's bid. The bid opening officer advised the secretary that the bid was late and could not be accepted. The contracting officer stated that the bid was late. The contracting officer states that he did not know the identity of the bidder submitting the bid until after he had determined that the bid was late. View Decision Matter of: Nueva Construction Company, Inc. File: B-270009 Date: January 16, 1996 Where the protester submitted its bid seconds after the bid opening officer reasonably declared that the time for bid opening stated in the solicitation had arrived, the agency properly rejected the bid as late, even though the bid opening clock continued to display the same minute in time. Attorneys DECISION Nueva Construction Company, Inc. protests the rejection of its bid as late under invitation for bids (IFB) No. 678-19-95, issued by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center, Tucson, Arizona, for the construction of building wings connected to the nursing home health care unit. We deny the protest. The IFB stated that bids should be delivered to Building 5, Room 204 of the VA Medical Center by 3 p.m. on the amended bid opening date of September 19, 1995. [1] According to the sworn statements submitted by the agency, the contracting officer called the Naval Observatory on September 19 for the correct time and set VA's time/date stamp digital clock in Room 204 to that time (2:45 p.m.). At 2:50 p.m., the contracting officer stood at the doorway of Room 204 so that he could see the time/date stamp clock, as well as the doorway of Room 207A, the bid opening room. A contracting specialist stood at the doorway of Room 207A, less than 50 feet from Room 204, where she could see both the contracting officer at the doorway of Room 204 and the bid opening officer in Room 207A (the bid opening officer stationed herself in Room 207A at 2:55 p.m.). Two hand-carried bids were delivered to Room 204 and stamped in at 2:55 p.m. At 2:58 p.m., the contracting officer announced to the contracting specialist the remaining time(2 minutes) until bid opening. A similar announcement was made at 2:59 p.m. When the time/date stamp clock changed to 3 p.m., the contracting officer announced the time to the contracting specialist, who in turn announced the time to the bid opening officer. The bid opening officer announced that the time for bid opening had arrived and that no additional bids would be accepted. The contracting officer joined the contracting specialist and the bid opening officer in Room 207A, and the agency began opening the bids received. A secretary who had been in Room 204 all along remained in that room. The protester's representative entered Room 204 and placed a bid package on a desk. The protester's representative states that the time/date stamp clock displayed 2:59 p.m. when he entered Room 204, and that the clock changed to 3 p.m. shortly thereafter. He states that the secretary was the only other person in the vicinity, but that she had her back to the clock. The secretary states that the representative entered the room seconds after the contracting officer had announced 3 p.m. and left the room, and that the time/date stamp clock displayed 3 p.m. both when the representative entered the room and when she attempted to stamp the bid. Since the bid was too thick for the secretary to fit it into the stamping device, Nueva's representative grabbed a sheet of paper, stamped it, and handed it to the secretary. The time date stamp on this paper said 3 p.m. The secretary then carried the bid to Room 207A. The bid opening officer was in the process of opening and reading the second bid when the secretary entered Room 207A with the protester's bid. The bid opening officer advised the secretary that the bid was late and could not be accepted. Shortly thereafter, the protester's representative entered Room 207A with the protester's bid and stated that it had been timely submitted because he had delivered it by 3 p.m. The contracting officer stated that the bid was late. Neither the contracting officer nor the protester's representative had seen each other prior to the start of bid opening, and the contracting officer states that he did not know the identity of the bidder submitting the bid until after he had determined that the bid was late. The contracting officer accepted the bid with the stipulation that the agency would hold it unopened until the matter was resolved.