B-296988, Specialty Marine, Inc., October 11, 2005

B-296988 Oct 11, 2005 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Specialty Marine, Inc. (SMI) protests the issuance of a purchase order by the Department of the Navy, Military Sealift Command (MSC), Sealift Logistics Command Atlantic (SEALOGLANT), to Atlantic Fabrication & Boiler Services, Inc. under solicitation No. N2141952135000, to perform a flush of the Central Fresh Water System (CFWS) on a Navy ship. SMI alleges that SEALOGLANT established an unreasonably short response time for receipt of quotations; failed to publicly display the solicitation; and improperly altered the quotation from Atlantic or allowed Atlantic to change the quotation to make it acceptable. We deny the protest. View Decision B-296988, Specialty Marine, Inc., October 11, 2005 Decision Matter of: Specialty Marine, Inc. File: B-296988 Date: October 11, 2005 Robert E. Korroch, Esq., Williams Mullen, for the protester. Kenneth T. Rye, Esq., and George Brezna, Esq., Department of the Navy, for the agency. Kenneth L. Kilgour, Esq., and Christine S. Melody, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST 1. Protest that the time allowed for submission of quotations was unreasonable is denied where the solicited firms received a reasonable time to respond to the solicitation and the agency was under no obligation to solicit the protester. 2. Protest challenging agency's failure to publicly display solicitation is denied where the record supports the agency's use of the unusual and compelling urgency exception to the public display requirement. 3. Protest that the awardee was improperly permitted to alter its quotation is denied where the record supports the agency's assertion that, initially, the quotation was misinterpreted by the contracting specialist and in fact no alteration to the quotation was ever made. DECISION Specialty Marine, Inc. (SMI) protests the issuance of a purchase order by the Department of the Navy, Military Sealift Command (MSC), Sealift Logistics Command Atlantic (SEALOGLANT), to Atlantic Fabrication & Boiler Services, Inc. under solicitation No. N2141952135000, to perform a flush of the Central Fresh Water System (CFWS) on a Navy ship. SMI alleges that SEALOGLANT established an unreasonably short response time for receipt of quotations; failed to publicly display the solicitation; and improperly altered the quotation from Atlantic or allowed Atlantic to change the quotation to make it acceptable. We deny the protest. According to the agency, a Navy oiler that had recently completed a major reactivation contract required additional repair work. Specifically, an attempted sea trial was cut short due to a rust problem in the ship's CFWS, which provides water to cool various pieces of equipment. The rusty condition of the pipes was discovered on July 8 and 9, 2005. The agency tried less costly remediation methods to rectify the rust problem, finally determining on July 21 that the CFWS needed to be chemically cleaned and flushed. Prior to the system being flushed, the ship would also require –temporary services—--cooling water and low-pressure air services--to continue to operate certain equipment. The Navy thus prepared two solicitations, each with its own statement of work, one for the temporary services and one for the CFWS flushing; the latter is the subject of this protest. The Navy required the work to be completed promptly, for two reasons. A sea trial was necessary to verify the extensive repairs just completed so that, if necessary, MSC could invoke the warranty clause in the repair contract. Moreover, the Navy asserts that it urgently needed the ship to replace other oilers with mechanical problems. The government estimates were $20,000 for the temporary services, with a performance period of August 4-8, and $24,900 for the flushing work, with a performance period of August 8-19. On July 29, SEALOGLANT orally contacted three potential sources for the temporary services (SMI, Atlantic, and Alliance Technical Services, Inc.) and three for the flushing work (Chemical Cleaning Specialists, Atlantic, and Auxiliary Systems, Inc.). Each firm received the statement of work for the work for which they had been contacted; accordingly, SMI received only the statement of work for the temporary services. Each was advised of a scheduled ship check on August 1 and was told to submit its quotation by 9 a.m. on August 3. The agency did not display or otherwise publicize the solicitations. At the ship check on August 1, SMI requested and received a copy of the statement of work for the flushing work. Atlantic and SMI submitted the only quotations, and both firms offered quotations for both solicitations. Unlike SMI, Atlantic placed both quotations on one sheet of paper and included the total price for both solicitations.