[Request for Reconsideration Alleging Decision Was Legally Incorrect]

A firm requested reconsideration of a prior decision which held that its bid for the construction of an Air Force facility should be rejected as nonresponsive because the accompanying bid bond was materially defective. The protester contended that the original protest should have been dismissed as untimely and argued that the decision was legally incorrect. In the prior decision, GAO stated that the firm's bid bond was fatally defective because it identified two sureties which created an ambiguity that could not be clarified. Upon reflection, GAO stated that it was sufficiently evident from the bond documents that only one of the parties mentioned could be bound as a surety. Under the circumstances, GAO stated that its prior decision gave too much weight to a technical deficiency in the bond, and the contingency about which it was concerned was too remote to warrant rejection of the bond. Therefore, GAO concluded that the contracting officer could have accepted the firm's bid bond as submitted. Accordingly, the prior decision was reversed.