Coastal Carolina Land and Timber, LLC (Sale-20006)

B-422904 Dec 11, 2024 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Coastal Carolina Land and Timber LLC, of Beulaville, North Carolina, protests the rejection of its bid as nonresponsive under solicitation No. 20006 conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, for the wild hog timber sale in Croatan National Forest in North Carolina. The protester contends that the agency improperly rejected its bid for having declined to bid the minimum advertised rate for a particular species of timber. We deny the protest. View Decision Decision Matter of: Coastal Carolina Land and Timber, LLC File: B-422904 Date: December 11, 2024 Joah Hackman, Coastal Carolina Land and Timber, LLC, for the protester. Lori Polin Jones, Esq., U.S. Department of Agriculture, for the agency. Janis R. Millete, Esq., and John Sorrenti, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Protester’s bid is nonresponsive because it failed to bid equal or higher than the minimum advertised rate for a particular species of timber as required by the solicitation. DECISION Coastal Carolina Land and Timber LLC, of Beulaville, North Carolina, protests the rejection of its bid as nonresponsive under solicitation No. 20006 conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, for the wild hog timber sale in Croatan National Forest in North Carolina. The protester contends that the agency improperly rejected its bid for having declined to bid the minimum advertised rate for a particular species of timber. We deny the protest. BACKGROUND The agency advertised the timber sale in a local newspaper on August 1, 2024 and provided information about how to obtain the solicitation and other relevant information regarding the timber sale. Agency Report (AR), Tab 5, Newspaper Advertisement, at 18.[1] The solicitation called for sealed bids offering to purchase various species of government-owned timber within the Croatan National Forest, with a public bid opening at 1:00 p.m. local time on September 4, 2024. AR, Tab 8, Bid Form at 28. Minimum acceptable rates were set for each species; in this regard, bidders were instructed that “[t]he bid rates in column 14g for each species must be equal to or greater than the advertised rate for each species in column 14f.”[2] Id. at 31; Memorandum of Law (MOL) at 1. For southern yellow pine sawtimber, the minimum acceptable rate was set at $49.00 per unit with an estimated quantity of 5,533 hundred cubic feet (ccf). AR, Tab 8, Bid Form at 25. For softwood-other pulpwood, the minimum acceptable rate was set at $24.31 per unit with an estimated quantity of 2,310 ccf. Id. The agency received three sealed bids before the public opening on September 4. Contracting Officer’s Statement (COS) at 35. While Coastal Carolina was the apparent high bidder, the agency noted that it had bid only $15.28 per unit for the softwood-other species. See Id.; MOL at 3. Since this bid was below the minimum acceptable rate, the contracting officer rejected Coastal Carolina’s bid as nonresponsive and made award to Tri-State. Id. at 36. Another bidder similarly failed to meet the minimum acceptable rates for both the southern yellow pine and softwood-other sawtimber species and the agency rejected its bid as well. Id. at 35. On September 5, the contracting officer, after consultation with the agency’s sale administration specialist, confirmed that Coastal Carolina submitted a nonresponsive bid, where Coastal Carolina’s bid was legible and did not appear to be a “Minor Informality, Clerical Error or a Material Mistake.” COS, exh. at 40 (attachment of email from Contracting Officer to Sale Administration Specialist). Tri-State was declared the high bidder and subsequently the agency issued an unsuccessful bidder notice to Coastal Carolina and informed the protester that it was found nonresponsive because it failed to conform to essential requirements, specifically that its bid of $15.28 per unit for softwood-other was less than the minimum advertised rate of $24.31. COS, exh. at 41 (notice dated September 5, 2024). In this regard, the protester failed to adhere to the bid instructions that bidders had to provide equal or greater pricing than the advertised prices on the bid form for each species. AR, Tab 8, Bid Form at 25. On September 6, Coastal Carolina filed its protest.[3] MOL at 3. DISCUSSION Coastal Carolina alleges that the agency improperly declared its bid nonresponsive. Coastal Carolina explains it was aware that its “bid had to reach the minimum of the entire sale, but [] forgot that they had to reach the minimum advertised price per product.” Id.; See Comments at 1-2.