Request for Reconsideration

A firm requested reconsideration of a GAO decision concerning its protest which contended that a solicitation and the accompanying Service Contract Act wage determination were defective because the form did not itemize job categories. It contended that the contracting officer erred in not specifying on the form that landscaping, as well as other job categories, would be involved in the contract performance. The Department of Labor had directed the agency to withhold money from the firm on a prior contract because the firm had failed to pay its workers in accordance with the rate set forth in the contract's wage determination. As a result of this prior experience, the firm believed that it was at a competitive disadvantage which the contracting officer should have rectified by itemizing the job categories in the form so that Labor could issue an appropriate wage determination for those categories. GAO could not conclude that the contracting officer knew of these matters at the time he submitted the form to Labor, or at the time he issued the invitation for bids. The firm should not have been at a competitive disadvantage vis-a-vis other bidders. Both the protester and any other bidder should have known that, if it intended to use a classification not listed in the wage determination, it would be bound to pay the other rate. GAO affirmed its prior decision.