REEP, Inc.--Costs, B-290665.2, July 29, 2003

B-290665.2 Jul 29, 2003 Jump To VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights DIGEST Request for recommendation that protester be paid a particular amount in protest costs is denied where claim was presented to agency in an untimely. Despite having actual knowledge that the same services were available from numerous other vendors. Was limited to a description of the activity performed. The apparent inclusion of costs that were not allowable for one reason or another. The protester's outside counsel advised the Army that REEP was reviewing the agency's November 15 letter and would comment on the agency's position "later.". The protester's outside counsel forwarded additional invoices that purportedly were tendered to the protester during the period of November 2001 to October 2002. View Decision REEP, Inc.--Costs, B-290665.2, July 29, 2003 DIGEST Attorneys DECISION REEP, Inc. requests that we recommend the amount it should be reimbursed by the Department of the Army for filing and pursuing its protest in REEP, Inc., B-290665, Sept. 17, 2002, 2002 CPD Para. 156. We deny the request. In REEP, Inc., supra, we held that the Army improperly awarded delivery orders under the awardee's Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) contract (for language training services), despite having actual knowledge that the same services were available from numerous other vendors--including the protester--under a different schedule covering the same services, apparently at lower prices. We recommended as corrective action that the agency reimburse REEP its costs of filing and pursuing the protest, including reasonable attorneys' fees. By letter dated November 7, 2002, the protester submitted an uncertified claim for bid protest costs in the amount of $72,961.25, and by facsimile dated November 8, it submitted a certification for the claim. The November 7 letter included a three-page spreadsheet that purported to tally costs incurred by certain of the protester's employees, as well as the legal fees and associated costs incurred by the protester's outside counsel for the months of November 2001 through October 2002. It also included invoices purportedly tendered by the protester's outside counsel for legal fees incurred during the months of November 2001, and March, April, June, July, September and October 2002. Finally, the letter included a 2-page listing of activities performed by the protester's outside counsel for several days during September 2002. By and large, this listing did not describe the purpose of the activities but, rather, was limited to a description of the activity performed. (For example, the listing includes an entry for a 1/2-hour telephone call between the protester's outside counsel and one of its employees on September 10, but does not indicate the purpose or subject matter of the call.) In other instances, the listing included a generic description of the activity performed (such as drafting and revising a letter to our Office), but no indication of the subject matter of the activity or its relationship to the protest. By letter dated November 15, the Army advised REEP that it did not consider the claimed costs properly for payment. The Army advanced numerous reasons for its position, including inadequate documentation, the apparent inclusion of costs that were not allowable for one reason or another, and the reasonableness of certain of the claimed costs. By letter dated November 19, the protester's outside counsel advised the Army that REEP was reviewing the agency's November 15 letter and would comment on the agency's position "later." REEP's outside counsel also acknowledged that REEP had failed to furnish the Army with supporting materials for the claimed expenses for its outside counsel. Accordingly, the protester's outside counsel forwarded additional invoices that purportedly were tendered to the protester during the period of November 2001 to October 2002, as well as listings of the activities for which the costs were incurred. These listings, like the September 2002 listing discussed above, were principally limited to a description of the activity performed, with no description of the purpose of the activity or its relationship to the protest. Thereafter, by letter dated December 10, the protester's outside counsel furnished the Army with information included in five exhibits. The first exhibit was a 3-page spreadsheet similar to the one previously submitted that purported to tally costs incurred by certain of the protester's employees, as well as the legal fees and associated costs incurred by the protester's outside counsel for the period of November 2001 through October 2002. In this exhibit, the total amount claimed was reduced to $68,914.33, apparently because the protester had excluded an amount for the "cost of money" that had been included in its earlier spreadsheet.