B-298011, American Printing House for the Blind, Inc., May 15, 2006

B-298011 May 15, 2006 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights American Printing House for the Blind, Inc. (APH) protests the award of contracts for the production of books on tape to Carolina Talking Books, Inc. (CTB), the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB), and Talking Books Publishers, Inc. (TBP) under invitation for bids (IFB) No. 20060046, issued by the Library of Congress. The protester contends that the IFB provided for the award of no more than 500 titles to a bidder, but that CTB has in effect been awarded over 1,000 titles because both AFB and TBP are subcontracting with CTB for the cassette duplication portion of the work on the titles awarded to them. APH further argues that none of these three bidders--CTB, AFB, and TBP--could truthfully have certified to having arrived at their prices independently. We deny the protest. View Decision B-298011, American Printing House for the Blind, Inc., May 15, 2006 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: American Printing House for the Blind, Inc. File: B-298011 Date: May 15, 2006 Walter L. Sales, Esq., Stoll Keenon Ogden PLLC, for the protester. David P. Metzger, Esq., Anand V. Ramana, Esq., and David J. Craig, Esq., Holland & Knight LLP, for the American Foundation for the Blind; Frederic G. Antoun, Jr., Esq., for Carolina Talking Books, Inc.; William S. Taylor, Esq., Taylor & Rea, PLC, for Potomac Talking Book Services, Inc.; and James H. Marlow, Esq., Hamilton and Faatz, for Talking Book Publishers, Inc., the intervenors. Emily Vartanian, Esq., Library of Congress, for the agency. Jennifer D. Westfall-McGrail, Esq., and Christine S. Melody, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST 1. Under invitation for bids (IFB) for production of books on tape that provided for multiple awards and limited the number of titles to be awarded to an individual bidder to 500, award of a contract for less than 500 titles to a bidder, which will also be performing work on one aspect of 1,000 additional titles as a subcontractor to two other awardees, was not contrary to 500-title limitation. 2. Allegation that bidders falsely certified to having arrived at their prices independently is a matter for contracting officer's consideration in determining bidder responsibility not subject to Government Accountability Office's review. DECISION American Printing House for the Blind, Inc. (APH) protests the award of contracts for the production of books on tape to Carolina Talking Books, Inc. (CTB), the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB), and Talking Books Publishers, Inc. (TBP) under invitation for bids (IFB) No. 20060046, issued by the Library of Congress. The protester contends that the IFB provided for the award of no more than 500 titles to a bidder, but that CTB has in effect been awarded over 1,000 titles because both AFB and TBP are subcontracting with CTB for the cassette duplication portion of the work on the titles awarded to them. APH further argues that none of these three bidders--CTB, AFB, and TBP--could truthfully have certified to having arrived at their prices independently. We deny the protest. The IFB, which was issued on November 30, 2005, contemplated the award of multiple fixed-price, indefinite-quantity contracts for recording, duplicating, packaging, and distributing books on tapes. The bid schedule identified 10 quantity tiers (1-50 titles, 51-100 titles, and so on up to 451-500 titles), and bidders were requested to furnish a price per minute for recording and a price per cassette for duplicating for each quantity tier up to their maximum capacity. The IFB explained that –the standard title— consisted of 670 minutes of narration, eight recordable compact disks containing a narration review copy, one recordable compact disk containing a Digital Talking Book, and 968 copies of 2.3 cassettes each, for a total of 2,226 cassettes. IFB sect. B.2. The IFB further explained that extended prices would be calculated by applying unit prices to the quantities contained in the standard title, but that actual contract prices would result –from application [of] bid prices to books assigned— and would –depend on the length of books selected and the number of copies of each required.— IFB sect. B.3. The IFB notified bidders that they could not enter into subcontracts without obtaining the consent of the contracting officer and the contracting officer's technical representative, and contained a clause that bidders could complete to furnish notice of their intention to subcontract.[1] The IFB also contained the standard Certificate of Independent Price Determination (Federal Acquisition Regulation sect. 52.203-2) at sect. K.2.