Request for Increase in Contract Price

A firm requested that the price of an Army contract awarded to it be increased because of an error in bid alleged 5 months after completion of the work and before final settlement of the contract. Prior to award of the contract, the Army advised the firm that the Government estimate of the work was $37,201 and asked for verification the firm's low bid of $26,579.20. The firm verified the bid. The protester contended that in verifying the bid it relied upon the closeness of the then-reported Government estimate and discounted the significance of the higher bids received for the work. It stated that it would have made a thorough examination and discovered its error had it been presented with a correct Government estimate. Therefore, the firm contended that it should be allowed to recover the actual cost of the work. GAO held that since the contracting officer did not know that the Government estimate was in error when the bidder was requested to verify the low bid, the verification request was sufficient. Accordingly, the claim for an increase in the contract price was denied.