Chant Engineering Co., Inc.--Costs, B-274871.4, April 28,

B-274871.4 Apr 28, 1999 Jump To VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights DIGEST General Accounting Office (GAO) recommends that successful protester be reimbursed costs of filing and pursuing GAO protest to the extent they are documented and were reasonably incurred in pursuing the protest. Which was part of the test station. The IEEE-488 standard was not applicable. Believing Chant's costs were not substantiated with appropriate documentation and that its claim of more than 500 hours of effort was excessive. The Air Force does not challenge the hourly rates or the overhead and general and administrative rates submitted by Chant or the $32 in mailing costs which were substantiated by invoices. The Air Force also argues that the direct labor hours claimed are excessive and unreasonable. View Decision Matter of: Chant Engineering Co., Inc.--Costs File: B-274871.4 Date: April 28, 1999 DIGEST Attorneys DECISION Chant Engineering Co., Inc. requests that we determine the amount it should recover from the Department of the Air Force for filing and pursuing its protest under request for proposals (RFP) No. F04699-96-R-A010 for two aircraft test stations. As discussed below, we recommend that Chant be reimbursed $6,802 in protest costs. In its protest, Chant alleged that the awardee's proposed electronic console, which was part of the test station, did not meet the RFP specification that all components of the electronic console "shall use IEEE-488 standard interface." After our Office denied its request that we dismiss the protest as untimely, the Air Force submitted a report and then a response to the protester's comments on the report, in which the agency contended, in essence, that Chant misinterpreted the requirement for the IEEE-488 interface and that the IEEE-488 interface requirement applied only to inter-component communications. The agency argued that, because the awardee "packaged" its components in a unique way, the IEEE-488 standard was not applicable. The awardee's submissions specifically stated that only one of its components met the IEEE-488 standard interface requirement. After a subsequent telephone conference in which all parties participated, the agency notified our Office that it would take corrective action by revising the specifications and resoliciting best and final offers. Our Office then dismissed the protest and Chant requested reimbursement for its costs of filing and pursuing its protest. We recommended that Chant be awarded protest costs because we found that the Air Force unduly delayed taking corrective action in response to a clearly meritorious protest. Chant Eng'g Co., Inc.--Request for Costs, B-274871.2, Aug. 25, 1997, 97-2 CPD Para. 58. Chant first submitted its claim to the Air Force on September 10, 1997, seeking reimbursement of $37,773. It submitted a revised claim on November 13, requesting reimbursement of $38,228, consisting of $22,119 for direct labor costs, $6,868 for overhead, $9,209 for general and administrative costs and $32 for mailing expenses. Chant's Revised Claim, Nov. 13, 1997, enclosure, at 1st unnumbered page. After a series of negotiations, the Air Force, believing Chant's costs were not substantiated with appropriate documentation and that its claim of more than 500 hours of effort was excessive, offered Chant $3,804.81 in settlement of the claim. Letter from Air Force Office of General Counsel to Chant Eng'g Co. 2 (Dec. 15, 1997). Chant refused the offer and submitted the matter to our Office for resolution. Chant seeks reimbursement for 508.5 hours of time for its president, vice-president and secretary at hourly rates of $51.03, $49.03 and $13.16, respectively, plus the associated overhead, general and administrative costs and mailing expenses noted above. Chant's Submittal to GAO, Mar. 23, 1998, enclosure. To support these expenses, Chant has submitted a seven-page timeline outlining by date the task performed, the time spent on the task and the person or persons performing the task. Id. For example, the protester indicates that on October 8, 1996, its vice-president spent 6 hours on the Internet researching a case cited by the Air Force; on November 21, the 3 employees spent a total of 20 hours contacting component distributors, verifying part numbers and descriptions, confirming costs of IEEE-488 and non-IEEE-488 printers, and formulating general arguments to counter erroneous points made in the agency report; and, on November 22, the three employees spent a total of 14 hours reading the agency report, outlining arguments to rebut agency arguments, and discussing the protester's response. The Air Force does not challenge the hourly rates or the overhead and general and administrative rates submitted by Chant or the $32 in mailing costs which were substantiated by invoices.