B-400065, Aquaterra Contracting, Inc., July 14, 2008

B-400065 Jul 14, 2008 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Aquaterra Contracting, Inc. protests the rejection of its bid as late under invitation for bids (IFB) No. W912P8-08-B-0019, issued by the Department of the Army, Corps of Engineers, for dolphin replacement work at Calcasieu Lock, Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana. We deny the protest. View Decision B-400065, Aquaterra Contracting, Inc., July 14, 2008 Decision Matter of: Aquaterra Contracting, Inc. File: B-400065 Date: July 14, 2008 Timothy A. Sullivan, Esq., Payne Hackenbracht & Sullivan, for the protester. Parag J. Rawal, Esq., and Deena G. Braunstein, Esq., Department of the Army, Corps of Engineers, for the agency. Susan K. McAuliffe, Esq., and Christine S. Melody, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Protest of agency's rejection of bid as late is denied where bidder's failure to address and label its bid package as instructed by the solicitation was paramount cause of its late arrival to bid opening location. DECISION Aquaterra Contracting, Inc. protests the rejection of its bid as late under invitation for bids (IFB) No. W912P8-08-B-0019, issued by the Department of the Army, Corps of Engineers, for dolphin replacement work at Calcasieu Lock, Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana. We deny the protest. The IFB, as amended, required that sealed bids be submitted by 2 p.m. on February 11, 2008; bids were to be addressed to the attention of a particular contracting specialist (the identified point of contact for the procurement) at a post office box address in New Orleans, Louisiana. IFB, Standard Form 1442.[1] The IFB also advised that bids were to be submitted in sealed envelopes labeled with the time and date for receipt, the solicitation number, and the name and address of the bidder; the IFB emphasized that it was the bidder's responsibility to submit its bid in a timely fashion to reach the designated office by the specified bid opening time. Id. at 2-3. A checklist of bid preparation reminders issued with the solicitation reiterated that bidders were to identify on the face of their bid envelopes the solicitation number and the time and date of the scheduled bid opening. Aquaterra submitted its bid via commercial carrier in a sealed envelope that failed to identify in any way that the package was time-sensitive or contained a bid (no solicitation number or bid opening information was marked on the envelope); the protester failed to address the envelope to the amended point of contact and failed to address the package to the post office box address identified in the IFB for the submission of bids. Rather, Aquaterra submitted its bid in an envelope addressed to –Contracting Officer— at the street address of the agency's contracting division, which address was identified in the solicitation amendments as the office that issued the amendments.[2] Aquaterra's bid package arrived in the agency's mailroom at 9:53 a.m. on February 11. At approximately 1:45 p.m., the envelope left the mailroom for delivery to the contracting division. At 2 p.m., the contracting specialist identified as the point of contact left her office to conduct the bid opening in a nearby conference room. Five hand-delivered bids were opened at that time; Aquaterra's bid had not reached the contract specialist in time for the bid opening. The protester's bid package and another firm's bid package were delivered to the contracting division at approximately 2 p.m. (the agency reports that while it is possible the bids may have arrived at the contracting division just prior to the 2 p.m. bid opening, there is no evidence that shows the actual time of receipt). The agency reports that since the protester's package was only generally addressed to –Contracting Officer— (where there are 13 contracting officers in that division), and the other bid was addressed to a former agency employee, the packages were left for one of the contracting officers to help identify the correct destinations for the packages. That contracting officer found the packages upon returning from meetings 2 hours later. When she opened Aquaterra's package, she found it contained a bid and forwarded it to the point of contact for the procurement. The next day, the contracting officer handling the procurement reasoned that, since Aquaterra's bid package and the other firm's bid package had been received at the mailroom approximately 4 hours prior to bid opening, it was government mishandling that caused the bids to arrive at the bid opening location late. After applying the applicable 10-percent price preference for Historically Underutilized Business Zone firms, Aquaterra's bid became low and award was made to the firm.