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.