All Seasons Construction, Inc., B-291166.2, December 6, 2002

B-291166.2 Dec 06, 2002 Jump To VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights DIGEST Contracting officer reasonably determined bid bond accompanied by power of attorney bearing computer printer-generated signatures unacceptable because signatures were not applied to the document after its creation and thus do not serve to authenticate its contents. The contracting officer rejected All Seasons' bid as nonresponsive based on her determination that neither the power of attorney attached to the protester's bid bond nor the accompanying certification attesting to the authenticity of the power of attorney and its continuing effectiveness was an original document. The protester contends that the document containing the power of attorney and certification was an original. That the bid should therefore have been accepted. View Decision All Seasons Construction, Inc., B-291166.2, December 6, 2002 DIGEST Attorneys DECISION All Seasons Construction, Inc. protests the rejection of its low bid under invitation for bids (IFB) No. 667-29-02, issued by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for the construction of operating rooms at the Overton Brooks VA Medical Center in Shreveport, Louisiana. The contracting officer rejected All Seasons' bid as nonresponsive based on her determination that neither the power of attorney attached to the protester's bid bond nor the accompanying certification attesting to the authenticity of the power of attorney and its continuing effectiveness was an original document. The protester contends that the document containing the power of attorney and certification was an original, and that the bid should therefore have been accepted. We deny the protest. The IFB required each bidder to submit with its bid a bid guarantee in the amount of 20 percent of the bid price or $3 million, whichever was less. IFB Sec. 4.26. Four bids were received and opened on the August 20, 2002 bid opening date. All Seasons was the apparent low bidder with a bid of $3,361,000. Witherington's bid was second low. All Seasons' bid was accompanied by a bid bond signed by David A. Montgomery as attorney-in-fact for the surety, Hartford Casualty Insurance Company. The surety's corporate seal was crimped next to Mr. Montgomery's signature. A power of attorney appointing Mr. Montgomery as attorney-in-fact for Hartford Casualty Insurance Company was attached to the bid bond. The power of attorney, which affirmed the intention of the Company to be bound "by any mechanically applied signatures applied to this Power of Attorney," did not contain any ink signatures and was not crimped with the surety's corporate seal. At the bottom of the power of attorney, there appeared the following statement: I, the undersigned, Assistant Vice President of the Companies, DO HEREBY CERTIFY that the above and foregoing is a true and correct copy of the Power of Attorney executed by said Companies, which is still in full force effective as of August 9, 2002. Signed and sealed at the city of Hartford. [Signature of Colleen Mastroianni] Colleen Mastroianni, Assistant Vice President The date August 9, 2002 was in a different size type than the rest of the document and had clearly been inserted after the document had been generated. The signature of Colleen Mastroianni beneath the certification was not in ink, and the certification was not crimped with the surety's corporate seal. The contracting officer determined that the document containing the power of attorney and certification was not an original, and, thus, that it did not establish unequivocally at the time of bid opening that the bond would be enforceable against the surety in the event that the bidder failed to meet its obligations. Accordingly, she rejected All Seasons' bid as nonresponsive. A bid bond is a form of guarantee designed to protect the government's interest in the event of default; that is, if a bidder fails to honor its bid in any respect, the bid bond secures a surety's liability for all reprocurement costs. A required bid bond is a material condition of an IFB with which there must be compliance at the time of bid opening; when a bidder submits a defective bid bond, the bid itself is rendered defective and must be rejected as nonresponsive. The determinative question as to the acceptability of a bid bond is whether the bid documents, including the power of attorney appointing an attorney-in-fact with authority to bind the surety, establish unequivocally at the time of bid opening that the bond is enforceable against the surety should the bidder fail to meet its obligations. If the agency cannot determine definitely from the documents submitted with the bid that the surety would be bound, the bid is nonresponsive and must be rejected. Schrepfer Indus., Inc., B-286825, Feb. 12, 2001, 2001 CPD Para. 23 at 2.