The Staubach Company, B-276486, May 19, 1997

B-276486 May 19, 1997 Jump To VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights DIGEST Agency properly rejected a hand-carried offer as late where the price proposal was timely submitted. The required technical and key personnel portions of the proposal were not submitted before the closing time set for receipt of offers. The required technical and key personnel proposals were not submitted by the time established in the RFP for receipt of proposals. The successful contractor is to assist GSA in obtaining leasehold interests and provide a variety of other real estate-related services nationwide. Each proposal was to consist of three physically separate volumes. Proposals were to be submitted to a designated GSA office in New York no later than 4:30 p.m. There were four envelopes and four boxes. View Decision Matter of: The Staubach Company File: B-276486 Date: May 19, 1997 DIGEST Attorneys DECISION The Staubach Company protests the rejection of its proposals under request for proposals (RFP) No. GS-02P-96-CVD-0006, issued by the General Services Administration (GSA) for real estate services. The GSA rejected Staubach's proposals because, although the protester timely submitted price proposals, the required technical and key personnel proposals were not submitted by the time established in the RFP for receipt of proposals. We deny the protest. The successful contractor is to assist GSA in obtaining leasehold interests and provide a variety of other real estate-related services nationwide. For evaluation and administration purposes, the RFP divided the United States and territories into four geographic regions or service zones, and required offerors to submit separate proposals for each zone. Each proposal was to consist of three physically separate volumes--volume I (price proposal); volume II (technical proposal); and volume III (key personnel resumes and other information). The RFP contained detailed instructions on the type of information to be included in each proposal section, and required that volume I be packaged individually, while volumes II and III could be packaged together. Proposals were to be submitted to a designated GSA office in New York no later than 4:30 p.m., February 21, 1997. Mr. Peter J. Downes, president of a consulting firm retained by Staubach to assist it with preparing, packaging, and delivering its proposals, submitted an affidavit to our Office describing the events surrounding the delivery of Staubach's proposals to the GSA. Mr. Downes states that for each of the four zones covered by the RFP, Staubach's proposal consisted of an envelope which contained a cover letter and volume I (the price proposal for that zone), and a corresponding box which contained volumes II and III. In total, there were four envelopes and four boxes--one envelope and one box for each of the four zones covered by the RFP. Mr. Downes explains that at approximately 2:35 p.m. on February 20, 1997, he telephoned DHL Same Day Air, a commercial courier with which he had made arrangements earlier that day to pick up and deliver Staubach's proposals to GSA in New York, to check on the status of the delivery. According to Mr. Downes, DHL confirmed that the eight pieces had been placed on a US Air Shuttle flight to New York's La Guardia Airport and would be delivered to GSA by 4:30 p.m. that day. At 4:15 p.m. on February 20, Mr. Downes telephoned GSA's bid room to confirm delivery of Staubach's proposals. Mr. Downes states that a GSA employee in the bid room confirmed that she had received a DHL delivery from Staubach. Mr. Downes states that he expressed concern about this delivery, and asked for assurance that she had received "four envelopes and four boxes," to which she allegedly responded, "[d]on't worry Mr. Downes. Everything has been received." [1] The contracting officer explains that on Monday, February 24, he discovered that Staubach's submission consisted of only four separate envelopes, each containing a volume I, all of which were inside a white plastic bag labeled "US Air Shuttle Pak." On February 27, after searching the bid room and other areas of GSA's offices, the contracting officer informed Staubach that although GSA had timely received volume I of the firm's proposals, GSA had not received any of the corresponding volumes II or III of the proposals for any of the four zones. Upon further inquiry, the protester located the four missing boxes at La Guardia Airport's Lost and Found.