Royal Hawaiian Movers, Inc., B-288653, October 31, 2001

B-288653 Oct 31, 2001 Jump To VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Where the solicitation was ambiguous concerning when the auction would end and the agency reasonably believed that offerors may have been misled. Royal Hawaiian contends that it was entitled to award on the basis of its low price under a reverse auction conducted by the agency prior to the request for revised proposals. Offerors were informed that award would be made to the offeror submitting the lowest-priced. " were provided for the conduct of the reverse auction. Offerors were informed that price revisions could be made only during the reverse auction. The auction would continue until either no revised offer was received during the last 5 minutes of the auction as extended or all the available extensions were exhausted. View Decision Royal Hawaiian Movers, Inc., B-288653, October 31, 2001 DIGEST Attorneys DECISION Royal Hawaiian Movers, Inc. protests the agency's decision to obtain revised proposals under request for proposals (RFP) No. N00604-01-R-A014, issued by the Department of the Navy for drayage services in Hawaii. Royal Hawaiian contends that it was entitled to award on the basis of its low price under a reverse auction conducted by the agency prior to the request for revised proposals. We deny the protest. The RFP, issued as a total small business set-aside, provided for the award of fixed-price, requirements contract to perform drayage services (movement of containers) between points on Oahu, Hawaii for a base year with 4 option years. Offerors were informed that award would be made to the offeror submitting the lowest-priced, technically acceptable offer. The RFP provided for a reverse auction after the submission of initial price proposals. Detailed instructions, including a "Bidder's Guide," were provided for the conduct of the reverse auction. RFP amend. 5, at 2-21. Among other things, offerors were informed that price revisions could be made only during the reverse auction, which would last for 60 minutes. The RFP also stated that the receipt of a revised offer within the last 5 minutes of the auction would extend the auction for an additional 5 minutes. Id. After an extension of the auction period, the auction would continue until either no revised offer was received during the last 5 minutes of the auction as extended or all the available extensions were exhausted. Agency Report at 5. The RFP stated that there would not be more than 50 extensions available and that the auction would be conducted "from 9:00 AM through [no later than] 2:00 PM Hawaii Standard Time (HST)." /1/ RFP amend. No. 5, at 2. Notwithstanding that the RFP stated that the auction would end at 2 p.m., as the agency noted in its report, if all 50 extensions were employed, the auction would actually not end until 2:10 p.m. Offerors were also informed that the conduct of the reverse auction constituted discussions with the offerors, and that the end of the last 5-minute period during which revised offers were permitted was considered to be the close of the auction. Id. at 2-3. The Navy received five proposals in response to the RFP. Only four offerors, including Royal Hawaiian and Pacific Express, attended the required training for the reverse auction and participated in the auction, however. Agency Report at 4. The reverse auction began at the appointed time with a message to the four offerors that the auction had begun. Agency Report, Tab 8, Reverse Auction Messages and Prices, at 14. Offers and revised offers were received through the first hour, and the first extension was triggered by a revised offer made at 9:55:41 a.m. (within the then last 5 minutes of the auction, that is, within the 9:55 to 10:00 a.m. period), which extended the auction to 10:05 a.m. As each extension was triggered, the offerors received a message that the auction had been extended by 5 minutes. See, e.g., id. at 12. Also, as the auction progessed and was extended, offerors were periodically informed of the number of extensions remaining. In the final minutes prior to 2 p.m., several developments of relevance here occurred. At 1:48:21 p.m. (prior to which event the auction was scheduled to end at 1:50 p.m.), the agency received a revised offer that extended the auction to 1:55 p.m. After the receipt of that offer, offerors were informed that there were three extensions remaining. At 1:52:29 p.m., the Navy received a revised offer from Pacific Express, which extended the auction period to 2:00 p.m. At 1:55:21 p.m., the Navy received another revised offer from Pacific Express, which extended the auction to 2:05 p.m. At 1:56:00 p.m., offerors were informed that one extension remained. At 2:00:50 p.m. (that is, within the final 5 minutes of the extended auction), the Navy received a revised offer from Royal Hawaiian that triggered the last extension, thus extending the auction to 2:10 p.m.