TITLE:  General Power Engineering Associates, Inc., B-292170, May 28, 2003
BNUMBER:  B-292170
DATE:  May 28, 2003
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General Power Engineering Associates, Inc., B-292170, May 28, 2003

   Decision
    
    
Matter of:    General Power Engineering Associates, Inc.
    
File:             B-292170
    
Date:              May 28, 2003
    
John Patrick Parker for the protester.
Charles L. Webster III, Esq., Department of the Army, for the agency.
Christine S. Melody, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO,
participated in the preparation of the decision.
DIGEST
    
Contracting agency properly rejected bid as late where record shows that
the bid was delivered by commercial carrier to the agency's loading dock
after the time set for receipt of bids.  Log book maintained by security
guards in charge of monitoring the loading dock is acceptable evidence of
the time of receipt of the bid even though the guards are not government
employees since the log is maintained by the guards in the regular course
of monitoring the loading dock for the agency and there is no reason to
challenge the log's authenticity or reliability.
DECISION
    
General Power Engineering Associates, Inc. (GPEA) protests the rejection
of its bid as late under invitation for bids (IFB) No. DACW5603-B-1001,
issued by the Army Corps of Engineers for replacement of three generator
air coolers at the Webbers Falls Powerhouse, Webbers Falls, Oklahoma. 
    

   We deny the protest.
    
The IFB, issued on November 27, 2002, required that bids be received by
2:00 p.m. on January 23, 2003.  For hand-carried bids, the IFB stated that
bids had to be received in the depository located in room 361 of the
issuing office by the specified closing time.
    
GPEA's bid was sent via Airborne Express, a commercial carrier.  According
to the contracting agency, the bid was received at the agency's loading
dock at 2:14 p.m. on January 23, after the designated closing time.  As
support for its position, the agency points to the log maintained by the
security guards who monitor the loading dock; that log contains an entry
showing *Airborne Deliv[ery] to COE [Corps of Engineers]* on January 23 at
*1414,* or 2:14 p.m.  No other delivery from Airborne Express is noted on
the log for that day.  The contracting specialist states that she first
located the package containing GPEA's bid in her office on January 27. 
Based on its conclusion that the bid was received late, the agency
rejected the bid and so notified GPEA by letter dated January 28.
    
It is a bidder's responsibility to deliver its bid to the proper place at
the proper time, and late delivery generally requires rejection of a
bid.[1]  Inland Marine Indus.,
B-233117, Feb. 16, 1989, 89-1 CPD P: 165 at 3.  Acceptable evidence to
establish the time of receipt of a bid includes the agency's time/date
stamp on the bid, other documentary evidence of receipt maintained by the
agency, and oral testimony or statements of government personnel.  Federal
Acquisition Regulation S: 52.214-7(c) (governing the treatment of late
bids, and incorporated into the IFB here).  In this case, the agency has
submitted both documentary evidence of late receipt--the log maintained by
the security guards at the loading dock--as well as a statement from the
contracting specialist explaining that she first received the GPEA's bid
on January 27. 
    
GPEA contends that the agency has not adequately shown that its bid was
received late.  GPEA challenges the agency's reliance on the log
maintained by the security guards because the guards are not government
employees.  In our view, the log is acceptable evidence of the time of
receipt.  It is undisputed that the log is a record maintained by the
security guards in the regular course of monitoring the loading dock for
the agency, and there is no reason to challenge its authenticity or
reliability.  The fact that the log is compiled by security guards who are
contract employees rather than government employees does not preclude
reliance on the log.  See J. L. Malone & Assocs., B-290282, July 2, 2002,
2002 CPD P: 116 at 5.
    
GPEA itself submitted a copy of a *customer cartage manifest* from
Airborne Express that purports to show that the bid package was delivered
to the loading dock at 11:49 a.m. on bid opening day.2   Commercial
carrier records, standing alone, however, do not serve to establish the
time of delivery to the agency, since they are not evidence of receipt
maintained or confirmed by the agency.  Valenzuela Eng'g, Inc., B-280984,
Dec. 16, 1998, 98-2 CPD P: 145 at 3.  In any event, to the extent that
GPEA relies on the Airborne Express document to establish that its bid was
not in fact late, receipt of a bid at a mailroom or other receiving area
does not constitute receipt at the office specified in the IFB.  Inland
Marine Indus., supra.  Thus, even assuming that GPEA had established that
the bid was received at the loading dock before the closing time--which it
has not--the bid nevertheless properly would be considered late, since
there is no evidence showing receipt of the bid in the specified office by
the time set for receipt of bids in the IFB.
    
Since GPEA has not provided, and the record does not contain, any
independent evidence casting doubt on either the log book showing late
receipt, or the contracting specialist's statement that she did not
receive the package until well after bid opening, we find that the record
supports the agency's conclusion that GPEA's bid was received after the
time set for receipt of bids under the IFB.  Accordingly, we conclude that
rejection of the bid was proper.
    
The protest is denied.
    
Anthony H. Gamboa
General Counsel
    

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   [1] A bid delivered by a commercial carrier like Airborne Express is
treated like a hand-carried bid for purposes of bid submission.  The
Chappy Corp., B-252757,
July 20, 1993, 93-2 CPD P: 44 at 3.
2 The Airborne Express document is a printed form that lists two airbill
numbers, one of which corresponds to GPEA's bid package.  At the bottom of
the document is a space for a signature by the recipient, the recipient's
printed name, and the date and time of receipt.  In the document submitted
by GPEA, the signature block has only the letters *LDLOF* printed in pen
along with the notation *1/23-1149,* also in pen, in the date/time block.