Thorner Press, Inc., B-283500, December 2, 1999

B-283500 Dec 02, 1999 Jump To VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights DIGEST Bid cannot be corrected where price schedule contained a handwritten notation that materially lowered the quantity covered by the unit price and thus price bid was for significantly lower quantity than called for by invitation for bids. Bidders were required to submit unit prices for various line items of work associated with printing. Which are published by FEMA to provide citizens with information and directions on where to get help in the event of an emergency or natural disaster. Among the work requirements listed as "Additional Operations" is "gathering.". Bidders were to insert unit prices for required line items. The IFB stated that the unit for purposes of pricing "gathering" was the order. View Decision Matter of: Thorner Press, Inc. File: B-283500 Date: December 2, 1999 DIGEST Attorneys DECISION Thorner Press, Inc. protests the rejection of its apparent low bid as nonresponsive under invitation for bids (IFB) No. C887-S, issued by the Government Printing Office (GPO) for production of the Recovery Times Newsletter for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). We deny the protest. Bidders were required to submit unit prices for various line items of work associated with printing, binding, packing, storage and distribution of estimated quantities of the newsletters, which are published by FEMA to provide citizens with information and directions on where to get help in the event of an emergency or natural disaster. Among the work requirements listed as "Additional Operations" is "gathering." IFB at 12 (line item III(b)). Under this requirement, the contractor must gather for mailing multiple newsletters in varying sets of 2 to 12 or more for approximately 500 to 50,000 potential disaster relief applicants. IFB at 6. In the Schedule of Prices section (pages 11 and 12 of the IFB), bidders were to insert unit prices for required line items. The Determination of Award section (page 10 of the IFB) contained the estimated quantity for each line item. The solicitation advised that the low bidder would be determined by multiplying the unit prices by the estimated quantities listed in the IFB, and adding these figures to determine a total bid price. IFB at 10. As initially issued, the IFB stated that the unit for purposes of pricing "gathering" was the order; that is, item III(b) of page 12 listed "per order" before the blank for the bidder's price for that line item. The IFB initially listed 20 as the estimated quantity for gathering; in combination with page 12's definition of the relevant pricing unit, this meant that, as initially issued, the IFB estimated that there would be 20 orders of gathering and requested a per-order price. Amendment No. 1 made various changes to the solicitation. As relevant to this protest, bidders were instructed as follows: on page 10, under SECTION 4. - SCHEDULE OF PRICES delete the figure in line item III. (b) 20 and change it to III. (b) 1,000 [and] on page 12, under III. ADDITIONAL OPERATIONS, under line item III. (b), delete 'per order' and insert 'per 1,000 newsletters.' Agency Report, exh. 3, IFB amend. 1. The agency subsequently issued a second amendment that stated, in relevant part: on page 10, under SECTION 4. - SCHEDULE OF PRICES delete the figure in line item III. (b) 1,000 and change it to III. (b) 100. Note: Figure in line item III. (b) previously was changed from 20 to 1,000 by Amendment No. 1. . . . REMAINDER OF SPECIFICATIONS SAME. Agency Report, exh. 4, IFB amend. 2. /1/ The effect of the two amendments was to change the pricing unit for gathering to "per 1,000 newsletters" and to change the estimated quantity for gathering to 100 units. At 1,000 newsletters per pricing unit, that meant that the agency anticipated gathering 100,000 newsletters (100 times 1,000 newsletters). Two bids were received by the July 29, 1999, amended bid opening date. Thorner was the low bidder with a total price of $732,242.50; McDonald & Eudy Printers, Inc. offered $927,684. Thorner submitted the standard GPO Form 910 on which the firm acknowledged all amendments and a price schedule (pages 11-13 of the IFB). Agency Report, exh. 6, Bid of Thorner Press. The next day, the agency received a facsimile from Thorner in which the firm acknowledged its "complete understanding of referenced Program specifications" and confirmed its pricing as submitted. Agency Report, exh. 8. Upon review of Thorner's bid, the contracting officer noted that under line item III(b) on page 12 of the price schedule, for which Thorner bid $125.00, the firm had crossed out the word "order" in the phrase "per order" and inserted the following: "100 Amend. #2." The contracting officer concluded that the protester's insertion of the words "100 Amend. #2" altered the requirement set forth in amendment No. 1 for pricing the gathering of newsletters by quantities of 1,000.