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[Protest of Refusal To Allow Correction of Amended Bid]

B-209844 Published: Jan 24, 1983. Publicly Released: Jan 24, 1983.
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Highlights

A firm sought a GAO review of a decision by the Navy which denied correction of its bid. The Navy found that the firm's amended bid was mistaken, but rejected the request for a correction which would have made the firm the low bidder. In the Navy's view, the amount of the firm's intended bid was not adequately explained and it concluded that the evidence submitted, while adequate to show that a mistake had been made, was not sufficient to permit correction. The Navy also viewed as applicable the rule that whether evidence offered to support correction is clear and convincing depends in part on the difference which would remain between the bid as corrected and the next low bids: the closer the bids, the more difficult it is to clearly and convincingly demonstrate what the intended bid was. GAO held that the authority to correct mistakes alleged after bid opening but prior to award has been delegated to the procuring agency and that the determination of how much weight should be given evidence in support of an alleged mistake is a matter to be considered by an administratively designated evaluator. GAO will review the decision only in a case where the decision has no reasonable basis. GAO found that the agency's decision was reasonable, and, accordingly, its decision was affirmed.

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Bid modificationsBid protest reconsiderationsCosting errorsJurisdictional authorityNaval procurementU.S. NavyGAO reviewIntellectual property rightsBid evaluation protestsComputer incident response capability