Eastern Forestry & Tree Service, Inc.

B-411848 Nov 09, 2015 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Eastern Forestry, of Spring Grove, Virginia, protests the terms of invitation for bids (IFB) No. W91QF5-15-B-0007 (IFB-0007), issued by the Department of the Army for landscaping services at Fort Lee, Virginia. Eastern Forestry asserts that the IFB, as amended, did not provide sufficient time to prepare and submit a bid. We sustain the protest. We sustain the protest. View Decision Decision Matter of:  Eastern Forestry File:  B-411848 Date:  November 9, 2015 Donna Harter, for the protester. Evan C. Williams, Esq., and Scott N. Flesch, Esq., Department of the Army, for the agency. Frank Maguire, Esq., and David A. Ashen, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Protest that agency did not provide sufficient time for submission of bids is sustained where a substantive amendment to the solicitation was posted at 7:00 p.m., the evening before the scheduled bid opening, and was first seen by the protester at 9:15 a.m. on the day of bid opening, leaving the protester insufficient time to hand-deliver a hard copy and compact disc by the scheduled 10:00 a.m. bid opening. DECISION Eastern Forestry, of Spring Grove, Virginia, protests the terms of invitation for bids (IFB) No. W91QF5-15-B-0007 (IFB-0007), issued by the Department of the Army for landscaping services at Fort Lee, Virginia.  Eastern Forestry asserts that the IFB, as amended, did not provide sufficient time to prepare and submit a bid.  We sustain the protest. BACKGROUND The IFB, issued and posted on the Federal Business Opportunities (FBO) website on July 16, 2015, provided for issuance of a requirements contract, for a base year with four option years, for tree maintenance and landscaping (including pruning, cutting, and chipping stumps) at Fort Lee.  The IFB as issued set bid opening for July 30, 2015, at 10:00 a.m., Eastern Standard Time (EST).  With regard to bid submission, the IFB provided: 2.  DATE AND TIME QUESTIONS & BIDS ARE DUE:  Bids are due by the date specified on the first page of the solicitation in Block 8 and are to be delivered to:  MICC Fort Lee 1830 Quartermaster Road, Bldg 7124 Fort Lee, VA 23801.  *  *  *  *  * 5.  BIDS:  All bids must be submitted in hard copy and an electronic copy.  The electronic copy shall be submitted in a PDF file format on a compact disc (CD), and also be properly labeled with the solicitation number, company name, and bid due date.  Bids can be mailed or hand delivered.  The IFB contains provisions and other items required to be completed by the bidder and returned with its bid.  Failure to provide this information in hard copy and electronic copy may render the bid non-responsive and therefore ineligible for award. IFB at 75. On July 21, the Army issued and posted on FBO amendment No. 1, which changed the quantity for one of the line items (from 40 hours to 200 hours), but did not change the bid opening time.  AR, Tab 4, Amend. No. 1.  On July 23, the Army issued amendment No. 2, which corrected a typographical error in two line items, changing the unit of measure from “Horsepower days” to “Hours.”  Agency Report (AR), Tab 5, Amend. No. 2; see AR at 2-3.  The time for bid opening remained unchanged at 10:00 a.m. on July 30.  The Army reports that while amendment No. 2 was released to the Army Single Face to Industry (ASFI) website on July 23, “due to technical difficulties affecting AFSI’s transmission of the amendment to FBO,” the amendment was not posted on FBO until July 29 at 7:00 p.m.  AR at 3.[1]Eastern Forestry states, without challenge from the agency, that it first saw amendment No. 2 on FBO at 9:15 a.m. on July 30, 45 minutes before bids were due.  Protest at 1.  The protester submitted its signed and dated email acknowledgement of amendment No. 2 shortly before 10:00 a.m. on July 30.  AR, Tab 7, Acknowledgement of Amend. No. 2; Contracting Officer Statement at 1. Eastern Forestry states that on the morning of July 30, it emailed the agency’s contract specialist “with its changed prices (reduced prices) prior to 10:00 a.m.,” but that all but one page of its submission were returned as “undeliverable” and its efforts to contact the contract specialist were unsuccessful.  Protest at 1-2.[2]  Later that day, around 2:00 p.m., Eastern Forestry personnel drove to the contracting office at Fort Lee and requested to speak in person with the contract specialist and the contracting officer.  Protest at 2; see Comments at 1-2.  The protester states that, at the ensuing July 30 meeting at the Fort Lee contracting facility, it proffered the remaining pages of its bid to the contracting officer, but the contracting officer refused to accept them.  Comments at 2.  The agency, however, denies that Eastern Forestry attempted to submit a hard copy of its bid at this meeting.  AR at 17; Contracting Officer Statement at 1.