Protester Alleged Bid Rejection Was Improper

Fortec Constructors, Inc. protested the readvertisement of a solicitation for bids issued by the General Services Administration (GSA) for the construction of foundations under a Court House addition in Miami, Florida. GSA determined that the protester's bid was higher than the Government estimate in the dewatering aspect of the bid. Under the resolicitation, Bartlett Construction, Inc. submitted the low bid. Fortec contended that: (1) Bartlett was not a responsible bidder as defined by the dewatering specialist criteria listed in the invitation for bids (IFB); (2) the IFB contained ambiguities; (3) GSA failed to inform the protester of errors in its bid; and (5) the protester is entitled to bid preparation costs. It was held that it is a matter for the contracting officer to determine whether the bidder has supplied evidence to demonstrate compliance with definitive responsibility criteria contained in the solicitation. By calling for continuous dewatering rather than intermittent dewatering, which the Government estimated would be adequate, the IFB overstated the agency's needs; however, since all offerors bid on a common basis, the protester was not prejudiced thereby. The protester's unreasonably high bid under the initial IFB did not indicate an erroneous basis for bidding; hence, the agency cannot inform a bidder of errors to avoid in a resolicitation. There was no basis for finding Fortec entitled to bid preparation costs, and the protest was denied.