B-299906, Bighorn Lumber Company, Inc., September 25, 2007

B-299906 Sep 25, 2007 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Bighorn Lumber Company, Inc. protests the award of a timber sales contract to Trapper Peak Timber Company by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, under the Two Elks timber sale in the MedicineBow-Routt National Forest, Colorado. We sustain the protest. View Decision B-299906, Bighorn Lumber Company, Inc., September 25, 2007 Decision Matter of: Bighorn Lumber Company, Inc. File: B-299906 Date: September 25, 2007 Alan I. Saltman, Esq., Saltman & Stevens, P.C., for the protester. Lori Polin Jones, Esq., Department of Agriculture, for the agency. Nora K. Adkins, Esq., and James A. Spangenberg, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST An agency may not correct an obvious mistake if the bidder's intended bid amount is neither ascertainable from the face of the bid nor supported by clear and convincing evidence. DECISION Bighorn Lumber Company, Inc. protests the award of a timber sales contract to Trapper Peak Timber Company by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, under the Two Elks timber sale in the MedicineBow-Routt National Forest, Colorado. We sustain the protest. On May 12, 2007, the Forest Service advertised the Two Elks timber sale in a Wyoming newspaper. The timber sale prospectus and bid forms called for bidders to submit only one bid amount, a –weighted average minimum (WAM) bid rate,—[1] on a combination of 23,505 ccf[2] of –Lodgepole Pine and Other— and 96 ccf of –True Fir— for a total estimated quantity on the sale of 23,601 ccf as follows: 14. Bid Information Rates Per Unit of Measure Species (a) Product (b) Unit of Measure (c) Estimated Quantity (d) Base Rate (e) Minimum Acceptable Bid Rate (f) Weighted Average Bid (g) Additional Deposits for Slash Disposal (h) Base Indices (i) Lodgepole Pine and Other, Live and Dead Sawtimber CCF 23,505.00 $9.87 $11.82 *////////// $1.25 130.32 True Fir, Live Sawtimber CCF 96.00 $9.87 $19.92 *////////// $1.25 116.60 Minimum Acceptable Weighted Average Rate, 14(j) $ 11.85 Bidder's Weighted Average Minimum Bid Rate, 14(g) $ * Weighted Average Bidding: Forest Service to determine proportionate rates for Species and Products. AR, exh. 3, Bid Form at 1. Because this is a sale, rather than a procurement, award was to be made based on the highest WAM bid rate. On June 12, 2007, the agency received and opened three sealed bids for the timber sale. Bighorn's WAM bid rate inserted in section 14(g) of the bid form was $21.01, which equates to $495,857.01 for the total 23,601 ccf of sawtimber.[3] Trapper's bid listed its WAM bid rate in section 14(g) as $522,281.10. The other bid's WAM bid rate was $16.26, which equates to $383,752.26 for the 23,601 ccf of sawtimber. AR at 2. After bid opening, the agency bid official found that Trapper's bid evidenced an obvious mistake in that the bidder apparently inserted a –total sale value bid,— rather than the WAM bid rate, in section 14(g) of the bid form.[4] The official noted that the mistaken bid, when divided by 23,601 ccf, would equate to a WAM bid rate of $22.13.[5] AR, exh. 4, Bid Official Memorandum (June 12, 2007), at 5; exh. 5, Contracting Officer's Request for Correction (June 18, 2007). On June 13, the contracting officer contacted Trapper to determine whether its WAM bid rate was in error or was intended. AR, exh. 5, Contracting Officer's Request for Correction, at 1. Trapper responded that it intended to bid $22.22 for 23,505 ccf of Lodgepole Pine and Other, for a total value of $522,281.10, which is the figure that it inserted as its bid in section 14(g).[6] Id.The contracting officer then informed Trapper that the WAM bid rate was for the entire sale volume of 23,601 ccf for both species groups and that the bid rate for both biddable species, based on the total bid value included in Trapper's total bid, would be $22.13. Id.; AR at 3. In response, Trapper indicated that it had made two mistakes: (1) entering the total value of its bid, instead of a WAM bid rate as required in the bid instructions, and (2) only bidding for the 23,505 ccf of Lodgepole Pine and Other, instead of the 23,601 ccf of combined sawtimber included in the sale. AR, exh. 5, Contracting Officer's Request for Correction, at 1. Trapper requested that its bid be corrected to reflect a WAM bid rate of $22.13 for the total 23,601 ccf of sawtimber. Id.On June 14, the agency received a memo from Trapper stating, –I guess I made a mistake on filling out TBR [timber] weighted avg. I put total amt instead of ccf price. I would like to change the total amt. [black line on copy provided GAO, presumably $522,281.10] to a ccf price of 22.13 per ccf on two elks TBR sale.— AR, exh.