Request for Bid Withdrawal Due to Clerical Error

A bidder, alleging clerical error, sought to withdraw its bid after bid opening, but before award by the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) which offered for sale Government surplus materials. The bidder submitted a copy of its worksheets to DLA consisting of pages from the DLA invitation for bids (IFB) on which appeared the bidder's annotations and calculations for certain items along with the word "all" and the figure 51.51. The bidder stated that the word "all" and 51.51 were entered to indicate $51.51 as the total price for each item, and that a company clerk erroneously extended the figure by the number of screens for each item listed. DLA concluded that according to regulations, the bidder failed to establish by clear and convincing evidence that an error had been made. The regulation cited uses the same standard for establishing a mistake as a prerequisite to both bid withdrawal and bid correction. GAO recognized that the degree of proof required for withdrawal is not comparable to that necessary to allow correction. Regarding errors in bids alleged after opening, but prior to award, it has been held that where a bidder discovers that it has made an error in its bid and so advises the contracting officer, the bidder is not bound by its bid. GAO held that if the Government makes an award to a bidder who furnishes evidence to make a prime facie case in support of an error, the Government must virtually show that no error was made or that the claim of error was not in good faith. GAO found that the bidder's evidence was sufficient to establish a prime facie case in support of its error, and that the record contained no evidence that its claim was made in bad faith. The bidder was allowed to withdraw its bid.