[Request for Review of Corps of Engineers Preaward Denial of Request To Correct Bid]

A firm requested a review of the Army's denial of its preaward request to correct a mistake in its low bid for the construction of miscellaneous mechanical and electrical maintenance and repair projects. The requester contended that the electrical subcontract quote was omitted from its bid summary sheet and the markup for this portion of the work was not calculated and added to the bid price, because: (1) of the rush to compile the bid; and (2) the subcontractor quotations had originally been entered on two separate columns on the spreadsheet. After reviewing the worksheets and memoranda documenting subcontractor quotations that the firm received, the contracting officer determined that the awardee should not be permitted to correct its bid because it had failed to produce clear and convincing evidence of its intended bid price. Applicable regulations provide that a bid error alleged before award may be corrected where the bidder presents clear and convincing evidence establishing both the existence of the mistake and the bid actually intended, provided that the correction would not result in the displacement of a low bidder. GAO found that: (1) there was clear and convincing evidence that the firm had neglected to carry the electrical subcontractor's quotation; and (2) no indication that a particular percentage was used to calculate a markup for any particular direct cost item. Accordingly, GAO recommended that the contract be reformed to allow upward correction representing the amount of the subcontractor quotation which was inadvertently omitted from the bid, and the request for an additional amount representing the markup was denied.