BNUMBER: B-270253
DATE: February 21, 1996
TITLE: Dennis Marceron
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Matter of:Dennis Marceron
File: B-270253
Date: February 21, 1996
Michael E. Snyder, Esq., James P. Campbell & Assocs., for the
protester.
Nicholas P. Retson, Esq., and David S. Franke, Esq., Department of the
Army, for the agency.
John L. Formica, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO,
participated in the preparation of the decision.
DIGEST
Agency's interpretation of a solicitation provision setting forth
minimum qualifications for the award of a contract to teach the German
language to United States military linguists is reasonable where the
agency's interpretation is consistent with the language of the
solicitation when read as a whole, and the protester's interpretation
is not.
DECISION
Dennis Marceron protests the award of a contract to Dr. Gundrun
Richmond under invitation for bids (IFB) No. DAJA02-95-B-0149, issued
by the Department of the Army for German language instructor services
at the Foreign Language Training Center (FLTC) in Garmisch, Germany.
Mr. Marceron protests that the agency unreasonably determined that he
did not meet certain special standards of responsibility set forth in
the solicitation.
We deny the protest.
The IFB, issued September 18, 1995, provided for the award of three
contracts for services as German language instructors to the three
lowest-priced, responsive, responsible bidders, with each contract
having a base period of 1 year with two 1-year options. The
contractors are required to conduct seven German language courses (for
a total of 1,384 hours of instruction) in each contract period. The
IFB set forth certain minimum qualifications, or special standards of
responsibility, established by the agency to measure the bidders'
abilities to perform the contract. See Federal Acquisition Regulation
(FAR) sec. 9.104-2; Tama Kensetsu Co., Ltd., and Nippon Hodo, B-233118,
Feb. 8, 1989, 89-1 CPD para. 128. The IFB provided, for example, that in
order to be considered for award, a bidder:
"[m]ust have taught [German] language at the intermediate or
advanced level to English speakers for at least four years in a
university, institution, language training school, or any
equivalent (cumulative total from different institutions
acceptable)."
The solicitation required that bidders submit with their bids
information demonstrating that they met the minimum qualifications
contained in the IFB.
The agency received six bids by the bid opening date. Each bid was
reviewed by the agency to determine, among other things, whether the
bidder met the IFB's stated minimum qualifications. Upon reviewing
Mr. Marceron's low bid, the agency found that his experience consisted
of 11 years of teaching German to English-speaking students at the
high school level, 5 years of teaching basic German at a community
center, and 1 year of teaching German to English-speaking students at
the university level. The agency concluded that Mr. Marceron did not
have experience equivalent to that required by the IFB, and awarded
contracts to the next three low bidders, each of whom had taught
previously at the FLTC and have significant experience teaching at the
university level.
Mr. Marceron protests the agency's determination that he does not meet
the IFB's minimum qualifications, arguing that a "[h]igh school is an
institution within the meaning of the requirements." The protester
contends that because of the use of the word "institution" in setting
forth the requisite minimum qualifications, the IFB required only that
bidders have 4 years of teaching experience in "an institutional
setting" to be considered responsible, and that "if the [A]rmy wished
to limit relevant experience to university level teaching, the word
'institution' should not have been included in the specification."
The protester argues in the alternative that, regardless of the
language of the solicitation, he is qualified to teach at the FLTC and
points out that he has taught there before, albeit for less than 2
months in the capacity of a substitute.
The agency disagrees with the protester's interpretation of the IFB
requirements concerning teaching experience. The agency explains
that the FLTC provides intensive refresher and enhancement language
training to linguists in the United States military and civilian
personnel. The agency points out that the individuals who attend the
FLTC are graduates of the Defense Language Institute, and as such each
individual has completed approximately 1,560 hours of language
training in a 1-year period and had achieved a fluency in German
equivalent that taught at the intermediate level at a university.[1]
The agency argues that in the context of this procurement, the
requirement for teaching experience "at the intermediate or advanced
level . . . in a university, institution, language training school, or
equivalent" cannot reasonably be read to encompass teaching experience
at a high school level, but rather can only reasonably be read as
including experience equivalent to teaching at the intermediate or
advanced level in a university. The agency concludes here that the
qualifications requirement simply cannot be considered, when the
solicitation is read as a whole, to include teaching experience at an
intermediate or advanced high school level.
When a dispute exists as to the actual meaning of a solicitation
requirement, our Office will resolve the dispute by reading the
solicitation as a whole and in a manner that gives effect to all of
the solicitation's provisions. Mobile Medic Ambulance Serv., Inc.,
B-259045, Feb. 15, 1995, 95-1 CPD para. 92. Where there is some
uncertainty as to the precise meaning of a term used in stating the
solicitation's requirements, the application by agency evaluators of a
common sense definition, based upon the agency's general needs as
reflected in the solicitation, is reasonable. Anadigicom Corp.,
B-235349, Aug. 18, 1989, 89-2 CPD para. 151.
We find that the solicitation required bidders to have, at a minimum,
teaching experience at the intermediate or advanced level at a
university, or equivalent experience at an institution or language
training school. The solicitation's statement of work expressly
provided that the instructors would be teaching at the FLTC, which, as
mentioned previously and as the protester was aware because of his
2-month tenure as a substitute teacher at the FLTC, would involve
teaching German to individuals who have already completed a
significant amount of German language course work and achieved a
certain fluency in German. It is apparent that teaching the German
language at a high school is not equivalent to teaching German at the
intermediate or advanced level at a university.
The alternative reading propounded cannot reasonably be considered as
consistent with the solicitation's intent. For example, if the
protester's interpretation were adopted, experience teaching at the
"intermediate or advanced level" at an "institution," such as an
elementary school, or a "language training school" for elementary
school-age students, would be acceptable. Such an interpretation
defies common sense and thus cannot be considered reasonable.
In sum, the agency reasonably interpreted the IFB as requiring that
bidders have experience teaching at the intermediate or advanced level
at a university or its equivalent, and therefore, because Mr. Marceron
concededly does not have such experience, acted reasonably in
concluding that Mr. Marceron did not have the requisite experience.
That Mr. Marceron believes himself capable of teaching at the FLTC,
regardless of the minimum qualifications set forth in the IFB, simply
does not render the agency's rejection of his bid for failing to meet
such qualifications improper. See Prime Mortgage Corp., 69 Comp. Gen.
618 (1990), 90-2 CPD para. 48.
The protest is denied.
Comptroller General
of the United States
1. For purposes of comparison, a high school student may complete 180
hours of instruction per year, for a total of 540 hours of instruction
in 3 years of high school or 720 hours in 4 years of high school.