Christolow Fire Protection Systems, B-286585, January 12, 2001

B-286585 Jan 12, 2001 Jump To VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Maintenance and repair of fire protection systems was material. A bid which failed to acknowledge the amendment was properly rejected as nonresponsive. The contractor will be required to provide all labor. 0009 (fourth option) were each comprised of 19 sub-CLINs. Sub-CLIN 0001AA was for quarterly maintenance on 280 automatic sprinkler systems during the base period. The IFB explained with regard to this work as follows: Performance of quality and thorough preventative maintenance on all equipment and quality and thorough service calls will significantly reduce the estimated quantity of work. Less than quality and thorough service call work will likely result in the stated estimated quantity being low and the Contractor having to respond to more service calls than estimated. . . . View Decision Matter of: Christolow Fire Protection Systems File: B-286585 Date: January 12, 2001 DIGEST Attorneys DECISION Christolow Fire Protection Systems protests the rejection of its bid as nonresponsive under invitation for bids (IFB) No. N62472-00-B-4741, issued by the Department of the Navy, for the inspection, maintenance and repair of certain fire protection systems at the Naval Air Station, Brunswick, Maine. We deny the protest. The IFB, issued on August 14, 2000, contemplated the award of a fixed-price contract for a base period of 1 year with four 1-year options. The contractor will be required to provide all labor, materials, and equipment necessary to provide inspection, maintenance, repair, and alteration services for the Naval Air Station's fire protection systems, which include automatic sprinkler systems, as well as foam, gaseous, and dry and wet extinguishing systems. The bid schedule set forth contract line items for the base and each option year of the contract. Contract line item numbers (CLIN) 0001 (base period), 0003 (first option), 0005 (second option), 0007 (third option), and 0009 (fourth option) were each comprised of 19 sub-CLINs, with each sub-CLIN setting forth a definite quantity of work to be performed. /1/ For example, sub-CLIN 0001AA was for quarterly maintenance on 280 automatic sprinkler systems during the base period. The solicitation also included "Fixed Price Service Call Work" as definite quantity sub-CLINs, listing emergency, urgent, and routine service call work as three separate sub-CLINs, each with an estimated quantity of 10. According to the schedule, emergency calls required a 4-hour response, urgent calls required a 24-hour response and routine calls required a 14-day response. The IFB explained with regard to this work as follows: Performance of quality and thorough preventative maintenance on all equipment and quality and thorough service calls will significantly reduce the estimated quantity of work. Less than quality and thorough service call work will likely result in the stated estimated quantity being low and the Contractor having to respond to more service calls than estimated. . . . Since the cost of service call work is included in the firm fixed price portion of the contract, the total price (extended amount) bid for all service call work is not subject to change regardless of the actual number of service calls peformed for the duration of the contract. IFB at C-21. The IFB included a description of "service call classifications," which essentially set forth criteria for determining whether a particluar service call would be considered either an "emergency call" or "routine call." Id. at C-23. According to these provisions, emergency calls required a 4-hour response and routine calls required a 7-day response (in contrast to the 14-day response required by the schedule). The IFB did not contain any criteria for determining whether a service call would be classified as "urgent," or mention urgent service calls at all, with the exception of the sub-CLINs discussed previously pertaining to urgent service calls. On August 29, the agency issued amendment No. 0001 to the solicitation. This amendment provided replacements for the pages of the bid schedule on which CLINs 0001, 0003, 0005, 0007, and 0009 were set forth. In this regard, the amendment revised the sub-CLINs pertaining to service calls by deleting the sub-CLIN for "urgent" service calls, increasing the quantity of emergency and routine service calls from 10 each to 24 each, stating in the schedule that routine calls required a 7-day response, and noting on the schedule that "[a]ctual service call count is not used in determining the payment to the contractor." This amendment also added to the list of equipment to be serviced a wet chemical extinguishing system located in another building at the Naval Air Station. On September 8, the agency issued amendment No.