Vijaydimon (U.S.A.) Inc., B-286013, September 29, 2000

B-286013 Sep 29, 2000 Jump To VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights DIGEST Protest against agency's acceptance of late bid modification is denied where the modification was sent by certified mail earlier than 5 days prior to the bid opening date. Which is for the sale of surplus diamonds to the highest bidders on a lot by lot basis. The provision states that "[a]ny bid [or bid modification] received . . . after the exact time specified for receipt will not be considered unless it is received before award and it . . . [w]as sent by registered or certified mail not later than the fifth calendar day before the day specified for receipt of bids. Postal Service registered or certified mail is the U.S. . . . postmark both on the envelope or wrapper and on the original receipt from the U.S. . . . View Decision Matter of: Vijaydimon (U.S.A.) Inc. File: B-286013 Date: September 29, 2000 DIGEST Attorneys DECISION Vijaydimon (U.S.A.) Inc. protests the award of a contract for the sale of a number of lots of industrial diamond stones to Oriental Supreme Ltd. by the Defense Logistics Agency under invitation for bids (IFB) No. DLA-Diamonds-009. The protester asserts that DLA improperly accepted Oriental's late bid modification. We deny the protest. The IFB, which is for the sale of surplus diamonds to the highest bidders on a lot by lot basis, states that bid opening would be held on July 6, 2000, at 1 p.m. at the Defense National Stockpile Center, Fort Belvoir, Virginia. The solicitation included a provision entitled "Late Submissions, Modifications, and Withdrawals of Bids," governing the treatment of late bids. In particular, the provision states that "[a]ny bid [or bid modification] received . . . after the exact time specified for receipt will not be considered unless it is received before award and it . . . [w]as sent by registered or certified mail not later than the fifth calendar day before the day specified for receipt of bids," providing further that "[t]he only acceptable evidence to establish the date of mailing of a late bid or modification sent either by U.S. Postal Service registered or certified mail is the U.S. . . . postmark both on the envelope or wrapper and on the original receipt from the U.S. . . . Postal Service." IFB Secs. B.4a(1), c, and d. Twenty-six bids were received and opened at the July 6 bid opening, including those submitted by Vijaydimon and Oriental. /1/ Shortly after bid opening the agency contract specialist received a call from an Oriental representative inquiring whether its bid modification had been received, which it had not. On July 10, before any award had been made, a bid modification from Oriental was received by the agency, sent by certified mail, in an envelope bearing postage metered on June 30 at a Sacramento California post office, with Sacramento postmarks of both June 30 and July 6. On request, Oriental subsequently provided the agency with its original certified mail receipt, which is postmarked June 30 and bears a 20-digit stamped postal identification number that corresponds to the identification number stamped on the Oriental bid modification envelope received by the agency. Because of the delivery delay and the postmark date discrepancy, the contract specialist brought the envelope to a local post office for examination. She was advised by a post office employee that the postage meter stamp dated June 30 was generated by a postal computer and that the date cannot be altered. The postal employee also noted that the envelope appeared to have gone through the postal system a second time, generating the July 6 postmark, and surmised that this was probably the result of the postal clerk who originally received the envelope having inputted the wrong nine-digit zip code to the bar code at the bottom of the envelope. The agency considered the modification in evaluating Oriental's bid, as a result of which Oriental displaced Vijaydimon and one other bidder, Diabex, for a number of the lots. The agency provided bidders with the results and, upon request, provided Vijaydimon and Diabex with copies of the envelope that contained Oriental's bid modification. Oriental and Diabex then filed agency-level protests. The agency denied these protests because the evidence established that Oriental's late bid modification had been mailed by certified mail more than 5 days before bid opening and satisfied the solicitation's late bid modification exception criteria. Vijaydimon then requested a meeting with agency officials at which it hypothesized that an Oriental employee may have had a post office employee stamp the envelope and Oriental's certified mail receipt on June 30, then return the envelope to Oriental to permit subsequent mailing with the modification having been prepared after bid opening.