Rescission of Sales Contract for Surplus Property

An agency requested that a contract for sale of surplus property be rescinded since the contracting officer was on constructive notice of a mistake in bid alleged by the contractor after award. The bid price was almost 400 percent above the current market value, more than 30 percent above the acquisition cost, more than 15 percent above the next highest bid, and the total bid price did not reflect the sum of the item bid prices. The contracting officer should have been aware of the possibility of an error in the bid, and since he failed to request verification, rescission of the contract was authorized.