B-296855.2, Odyssey International, Inc., November 16, 2005

B-296855.2 Nov 16, 2005 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Odyssey International, Inc. protests the Department of Labor's (DOL) decision to deny its request for correction of a mistake in its low bid under invitation for bids (IFB) No. 051RB20036, for construction services, and the consequent rejection of its bid. We sustain the protest. View Decision B-296855.2, Odyssey International, Inc., November 16, 2005 DOCUMENT FOR PUBLIC RELEASE The decision issued on the date below was subject to a GAO Protective Order. This redacted version has been approved for public release. Decision Matter of: Odyssey International, Inc. File: B-296855.2 Date: November 16, 2005 Patrick S. Hendrickson, Esq., for the protester. Timothy A. Sullivan, Esq., and Michael H. Payne, Esq., Payne Hackenbracht and Sullivan, for Allied Contractors and Engineers, Inc., an intervenor. Carrie E. Kamler, Esq., Department of Labor, for the agency. Charles W. Morrow, Esq., and James A. Spangenberg, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Agency improperly failed to allow correction of claimed mistake in bid, where the bidder established its mistake and its intended bid (which was still low) by clear and convincing evidence and the agency denied the requested correction because of other suspected mistakes which were unrelated to the one claimed and which the agency did not bring to the bidder's attention, as required by Federal Acquisition Regulation sections 14.407-1, 14.407-3(g)(1)(iv), and where the evidence in the record, including hearing testimony and worksheets, does not evidence that the bidder made additional mistakes (as suspected by the agency) or that the worksheets were not in good order. DECISION Odyssey International, Inc. protests the Department of Labor's (DOL) decision to deny its request for correction of a mistake in its low bid under invitation for bids (IFB) No. 051RB20036, for construction services, and the consequent rejection of its bid. We sustain the protest. The IFB, issued on April 1, 2005, sought bids for the construction of a new 178-bed, 43,788 square foot, three-story dormitory building at the RedRockJobCorpsCenter, Lopez, Pennsylvania. At the bid opening on May 10, DOL received eight bids. Odyssey submitted the low bid at $6,246,616 (a base bid of $6,034,000 plus two solicited and evaluated alternates totaling $212,616) and Allied Contractors and Engineers, Inc. submitted the next low bid at $7,319,800. Agency Report, Tab 31, Bid Tabulation Form. The government estimate for the project was $7,352,357. Agency Report, Tab 21, Architect's Bid Analysis, at 2. After the agency requested the three lowest bidders to verify their bid prices, Odyssey, on May 11, requested correction of an alleged mistake in its bid attributed to –a dramatic posting error— in its bid tabulation sheet. Agency Report, Tab 25, Letter from Odyssey to DOL, May 11, 2005, at 1. Odyssey claimed that it mistakenly recorded a $1,275,000 quote for structural steel from a subcontractor as $275,000 in its electronic spreadsheet, and as evidence of the mistake and the intended bid it furnished the subcontractor's proposal of $1,275,000, as well as printed copies of the original bid tabulation spreadsheet and the corrected spreadsheet, both dated May 11.[1] Id.DOL requested that Odyssey provide all pertinent evidence –establishing the existence of the error, and the manner in which it occurred, and the bid actually intended.— Agency Report, Tab 22, Letter from DOL to Odyssey, May 16, 2005. On May 19, Odyssey furnished additional evidence related to the mistake, including a compact disc (CD) containing the electronic version of the previously printed spreadsheets. Odyssey requested that it be allowed to correct its base-bid price to $7,104,600 to account for the mistake. This figure included not only the $1,000,000 shortfall on the bid tabulation sheet in recording the subcontractor's quote, but also, consistent with the methodology employed on the original bid tabulation spreadsheet, a [DELETED] markup for profit and overhead on the increased price, an additional 1-percent markup for bond premium, and a $54 bid reduction to round off the bid.[2] Agency Report, Tab 25, Odyssey's Request for Correction, May 11, 2005; Tab 29, Odyssey's Supplement to Request for Correction, May 19, 2005. This would make Odyssey's corrected bid, including the two alternates, total $7,317,216,[3] which is only $2,584 less than Allied's $7,319,800 bid. Upon learning that Odyssey had requested correction of its mistake in bid, on May 12, Allied protested to the agency the propriety of permitting Odyssey to correct its bid. On June 21, after reviewing Odyssey's documentation, DOL accepted Odyssey's corrected bid, finding that there was clear and convincing evidence of the mistake and the intended bid. Thus, on June 28, DOL denied Allied's protest.