Request for Deletion of Item From Contract

The contractor requested permission to withdraw its bid on an item after award of the contract. Although the wide range of bids on the item would not normally have put the contracting officer on notice of the mistake in bid, relief was granted because the bid was three times greater than the next highest bid, seven times the appraised market value, and clearly inconsistent with the company's bids on other similar items. Since the contracting officer was on constructive notice of the possibility of an error in the bid, the administrative recommendation to delete the item from the contract was approved.