Claim for Relief From Alleged Mistake in Offer

A firm requested reconsideration of a previous decision in which its claim for relief from an alleged mistake in an offer made to the government was denied. In the previous decision it was held that the contracting officer was not on constructive notice of an error in the claimant's offer. In its request for reconsideration, the claimant contended that the government estimates of the probable cost of the equipment to be supplied were in error, and that if a proper estimate had been prepared, the error would have been apparent to the contracting officer. GAO did not regard the accuracy of the government estimate as the key issue; rather, the relevant question was whether there was sufficient information available to the contracting officer to reasonably dispel any doubts as to the probability of a mistake that would compel the contracting officer to seek verification of the claimant's estimate. An examination of the factors taken into consideration in preparation of the government's estimate and other factors of which the contracting officer was cognizant at the time the contract was negotiated did not reveal any evidence that the contracting officer should have known any more about the probable cost of performing the contract than the claimant. Accordingly, since the claimant did not demonstrate any errors of fact or law in the earlier decision, that decision was affirmed.