TITLE: Mitchell Roofing & Contracting
BNUMBER: B-290462
DATE: June 25, 2002
**********************************************************************
Mitchell Roofing & Contracting, B-290462, June 25, 2002
Decision
Matter of: Mitchell Roofing & Contracting
File: B-290462
Date: June 25, 2002
Tom Wright for the protester.
Vera Meza, Esq., U.S. Army Materiel Command, for the agency.
Paul E. Jordan, Esq., and John M. Melody, Esq., Office of the General
Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision.
DIGEST
Where record shows that agency misread electronic version of awardee's bid
as incomplete at the time of bid opening, and that, in fact, complete bid
was received prior to bid opening time, there is no basis for questioning
agency's award decision.
DECISION
Mitchell Roofing & Contracting protests the award of a contract to Petticoat
Construction Inc. under invitation for bids (IFB) No. DAAE24-02-B-0002,
issued by the Department of the Army, as a section 8(a) set-aside, for
re?roofing a building at Anniston Army Depot, Alabama. Mitchell asserts
that the award was improper because Petticoat did not submit a timely
complete bid.
We deny the protest.
The IFB required the submission of electronic bids by 10:00 a.m. on January
28, 2002. Petticoat submitted a telefacsimile (faxed) bid by this time, but
when the agency viewed it electronically, it appeared that the bid consisted
only of two pages, and that the third page--containing the bid schedule--had
not been submitted. Thus, no price was recorded for Petticoat at bid
opening. Thereafter, the low bidder withdrew its bid due to a bid mistake,
and the apparent second-low bid was eliminated because the bidder was not an
eligible 8(a) contractor. Since Mitchell's bid appeared to be next low, the
agency obtained responsibility information from the firm. Prior to making
the award to Mitchell, however, the agency printed out all of the electronic
bids. When it did so, it found that Petticoat's bid had in fact included a
complete bid schedule showing a bid of $333,600. Since this price was lower
than Mitchell's bid of $392,380, the agency awarded Petticoat the contract.
Mitchell asserts that Petticoat's bid was nonresponsive because it was
incomplete and late. As support, Mitchell relies on agency computer
printouts, which allegedly contain inconsistent time stamps and indicate
that Petticoat's bid contained too few pages to be complete.
The record clearly establishes that Petticoat submitted a timely and
complete bid. The agency explains that bids such as Petticoat's faxed bid
were received via software in a secured computer server at the agency, and
were then copied to a portable document file (PDF) for use at bid opening.
Contracting Officer's Statement (COS) � g.1. A printout of the agency's
computer log (Protester's exh. 2) shows that the agency received a two-page
fax from Petticoat's telephone number on the bid opening date at "9:29:
AM"--that is, more than 30 minutes before the 10:00 a.m. bid opening
time--and the firm's bid in PDF form (Agency Report (AR), attach. 2) was
publicly "opened" with the other bids at bid opening. COS � g.2.b. Thus,
there is no question that Petticoat's bid was timely received.[1] Mitchell
cites the fact that the printout of the PDF version of Petticoat's bid
reflects a time of "09:36 AM" (Protester's Response � 7), as an
inconsistency that raises doubt as to whether the bid was timely received.
This argument is without merit. This entry time is well before the 10:00
a.m. bid opening time, and less than 7 minutes after the receipt time shown
for the fax. This time difference seems fully consistent with the amount of
time the agency would need to copy the bid in PDF form prior to bid opening,
as is its practice.
With regard to the completeness of Petticoat's bid, the agency printout
clearly shows that all three pages were included with the bid.[2] AR,
attachs. 2-3. The confusion was caused, it appears, by the computer's
reading the last two faxed pages as a single page. The agency explains
that, since only two pages were shown as having been received when it
initially read the bid, it did not bother to scroll down further after
seeing that the second page was not the bid schedule--this would have
revealed the attached third page. COS � g.2.b. Instead, the agency assumed
at that point that no bid schedule page was received. The agency's mere
failure to read the entire bid is not a basis for finding that the bid was
not timely received. We find the documentary evidence, together with the
agency's explanation, clear evidence that Petticoat's bid was received prior
to bid opening, and was complete. Mitchell has provided no evidence that
shows otherwise. Accordingly, there is no basis for questioning the award.
[3]
The protest is denied.
Anthony H. Gamboa
General Counsel
-------------------------
[1] Mitchell also points to the fact that the printout shows a fax received
from Petticoat after the bid opening time. It is plain, however, that this
record concerns a different, 12-page bid. Mitchell's reliance on this other
entry stems from a photocopy of the printout on which the highlighted bid
receipt line appears as an unreadable black line. AR, attach. 1. The
agency subsequently provided another copy of the document, which clearly
shows both a 2-page fax as having been received prior to the 10:00 a.m. bid
opening time, and a 12?page fax received after 10:00 a.m.
[2] Mitchell questions whether Petticoat's three-page bid contained all
appropriate certifications at the time of bid opening. Protester's Response
� 4. The agency explains that it received Petticoat's original bid bond
prior to bid opening, COS � g, and there is no evidence that any other part
of Petticoat's bid was not timely received by the agency.
[3] The fact that Mitchell was led to believe it was in line for award, and
expended additional time and expense in providing responsibility information
to the agency, provides no basis for relief.