SKJ & Associates, Inc.--Costs, B-291533.3, July 24, 2003

B-291533.3 Jul 24, 2003 Jump To VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Hours claimed by protester's president as part of its request for reimbursement of the cost of filing and pursuing its protest are not allowed where they are excessive given the nature of the particular protest. The other elements of the claim were the protester's out-of-pocket expenses and cost incurred in pursuit of the claim. HHS determined that the president's costs associated with attending the debriefing held in conjunction with this procurement were not allowable. The letter stated: [SKJ's president's] standard company billing rate is $100.00 per hour. A discount of 20% was offered and accepted by a recent client . . . . Documentation supporting the revised claim was also provided. The agency discovered that the president's hourly rate in a recent cost proposal was only $44.79 per hour. View Decision SKJ & Associates, Inc.--Costs, B-291533.3, July 24, 2003 DIGEST Attorneys DECISION SKJ & Associates, Inc. requests that our Office recommend the amount it should recover from the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) for the costs of filing and pursuing its protest in SKJ & Assocs., Inc., B-291533, Jan. 13, 2003, 2003 CPD Para. 3. In that decision, we sustained the protest because the agency lacked a reasonable basis for rejecting the protester's quotation, and recommended, among other things, "that the protester be reimbursed the reasonable costs of filing and pursuing the protest, including attorneys' fees." We recommend that SKJ be reimbursed $2,643.45 for its costs of filing and pursuing its protest; we deny the remainder of the claim. On February 14, 2003, SKJ submitted a claim for $27,294.80 to HHS for filing and pursuing its protest. This claim primarily consisted of the costs associated with the time expended by the president of the company on the protest. The other elements of the claim were the protester's out-of-pocket expenses and cost incurred in pursuit of the claim. HHS determined that the president's costs associated with attending the debriefing held in conjunction with this procurement were not allowable. HHS also requested that SKJ provide documentation to support the "acceptability" of the claimed hourly rate of $100 for SKJ's president and the number of hours worked on each task (because the number of hours for some of the tasks seemed excessive). HHS Letter to SKJ (March 3, 2003). An attorney hired by SKJ for pursuit of this claim responded in a letter that detailed the hours claimed by the president of SKJ, for example, preparing the protest, making copies, and researching the applicable regulations. Regarding the hourly rate of $100 for SKJ's president, the letter stated: [SKJ's president's] standard company billing rate is $100.00 per hour. However, a discount of 20% was offered and accepted by a recent client . . . . Based on these facts, I instructed [SKJ's president] to adjust the claim for costs to the discounted hourly rate of $80.00. SKJ's Letter to HHS (Mar. 7, 2003). SKJ submitted to the agency a revised claim of $22,851.44, calculated using the $80 hourly rate for SKJ's president, and including additional costs of pursuing this claim. Documentation supporting the revised claim was also provided. After some discussions, the agency discovered that the president's hourly rate in a recent cost proposal was only $44.79 per hour. The agency offered to settle SKJ's claim for $8,913.85, based on this lower rate, and excluding the claimed costs associated with the debriefing and pursuing the claim at the agency. HHS Letter to SKJ (Apr. 2, 2003). SKJ declined to settle the claim on this basis. Instead, SKJ requests that we recommend that it be reimbursed for $28,301.92. This amount, calculated using the $80 hourly rate for SKJ's president, includes the costs for the debriefing and incurred in pursuing the claim. A protester seeking to recover the costs of pursuing a protest must submit sufficient evidence to support its monetary claim. John Peeples--Claim for Costs, B-233167.2, Aug. 5, 1991, 91-2 CPD Para. 125 at 3. The amount claimed may be recovered to the extent that the claim is adequately documented and is shown to be reasonable; a claim is reasonable if, in its nature and amount, it does not exceed that which would be incurred by a prudent person in pursuit of the protest. JAFIT Enters., Inc.--Costs, B-266326.2, B-266327.2, Mar. 31, 1997, 97-1 CPD Para. 125 at 2. Although we recognize that the requirement for documentation may sometimes entail certain difficulties, we do not consider it unreasonable to require a protester to document in some manner the amount and purposes of its employees' claimed efforts and to establish that the claimed hourly rates reflect the employees' actual rates of compensation plus reasonable overhead and fringe benefits. W.S. Spotswood & Sons, Inc.--Claim for Costs, B-236713.3, July 19, 1990, 90-2 CPD Para.