Asbestos Control Management, Inc., B-279521, June 23, 1998

B-279521 Jun 23, 1998 Jump To VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights The lowest two bids and the government estimate are as follows: Base Bid ACMI $2. ACMI claimed that its bid was understated by $623. Which is approximately 4 percent lower than the next low bid. 293 represents its "hard cost" amount which was "jumped" to the $2. The subcontractors' quotation sheets are dated before bid opening and each sheet clearly reflects subcontractor price quotes. 600 quotation for asbestos abatement is dated February 11. The seven prices noted above did not carry over from the base cost column to the total cost column because "some simple math formulas were not in place . . . .". These seven prices were listed as $0 in the total cost column and were not carried over to the estimating software program. View Decision Matter of: Asbestos Control Management, Inc. File: B-279521 Date: June 23, 1998 DIGEST Attorneys DECISION Asbestos Control Management, Inc. (ACMI) protests the Department of Labor's (DOL) denial of ACMI's request to correct a mistake in its low bid under invitation for bids (IFB) No. 97-DAA-51-JC for the installation of a new heating and air-conditioning system, electrical upgrades, demolition, and asbestos removal at the Woodstock Jobs Corps Center in Woodstock, Maryland. We deny the protest. The bid mistake concerns the base bid item covering the project, for which the IFB required only a single lump-sum entry. The protester submitted the lowest of 10 bids received by the December 16, 1997 bid opening. The lowest two bids and the government estimate are as follows: Base Bid ACMI $2,410,000 Philips Way, Inc. $3,130,000 Government Estimate $3,902,760 On December 18, the agency requested ACMI to provide a detailed bid breakdown. The following day, the agency requested that ACMI confirm its bid and reiterated its request for a bid breakdown. By letter dated December 22, ACMI confirmed its bid and provided the agency with bid breakdown information. ACMI's bid breakdown included $315,000 for automatic temperature controls, $294,000 for electrical work, $34,600 for testing and balancing, $100,000 for asbestos abatement, $150,000 for sheet metal and $175,000 for insulation. /1/ Because of the disparity between ACMI's bid and both the government estimate and the other bids, on January 30, 1998, the contracting officer asked ACMI to review its bid for the possibility of a mistake. On February 5, ACMI retracted its confirmation and informed DOL that its bid contained a mistake. ACMI claimed that its bid was understated by $623,480, consisting of mistakenly excluded prices of $393,140 for electrical work, $1,610 for hardware and doors, $109,600 for asbestos removal, $3,500 for chemical water treatment, $10,440 for frequency drives, $34,395 for cooling towers, $14,115 for heat exchangers and $56,680 for overhead. ACMI stated that it had intended to include these amounts in its bid, but that they had been omitted as the result of a computer error arising from ACMI's use of a new computer networking system. The requested correction would make ACMI's bid $3,013,261, which is approximately 4 percent lower than the next low bid. To support its mistake claim, ACMI provided DOL with worksheets and other back-up data used to prepare its bid, including computer-generated estimate and spreadsheet printouts, its in-house costs, and its subcontractors quotation sheets for services to be performed under the solicitation. In addition, ACMI included a letter from its computer supplier attesting to incompatibility problems experienced with ACMI's software which can cause problems in spreadsheet applications, and an affidavit in which ACMI's vice president explained the mistake and the intended bid. ACMI's actually submitted bid of $2,410,000 did not appear on any of the submitted spreadsheets. The subtotals on ACMI's allegedly original incorrect spreadsheet total to $1,634,710.10 and a "total estimate" amount of $2,386,293 appears on the estimate printout. According to the protester, this $2,386,293 represents its "hard cost" amount which was "jumped" to the $2,410,000 bid on bid day. The seven excluded quotations in question consist of five quotations from three different subcontractors and two in-house quotations (plus overhead). The subcontractors' quotation sheets are dated before bid opening and each sheet clearly reflects subcontractor price quotes. However, ACMI's $109,600 quotation for asbestos abatement is dated February 11, 1998 (after bid opening), and its $3,500 quotation for chemical water treatment has no supporting documentation. ACMI explained that its error resulted from the use of its estimating software system in combination with the computerized spreadsheet. ACMI prepares a tally or "bid prep" sheet using a computerized spreadsheet for supplier and subcontractor costs and a total bid using its estimating software.