B-400049, Barnesville Development Corporation, June 30, 2008
Decision
Matter of: Barnesville Development Corporation
Michael
J. Brutz for the protester.
John C. Ringenhausen, Esq., General Services Administration, for the agency.
Jennifer D. Westfall-McGrail, Esq., and
Christine S. Melody, Esq., Office of General Counsel, GAO,
participated in the preparation of the decision.
DIGEST
Protest challenging rejection of offer for the lease of office space is denied where the record shows that the offer failed to meet solicitation requirements pertaining to floor space dimensions; protester’s argument that the agency should be regarded as having waived the floor space dimension requirements by including in the solicitation another, allegedly inconsistent requirement regarding layout of space is without merit given that the solicitation provisions at issue can be read in a manner that gives effect to both provisions.
DECISION
Barnesville Development
Corporation protests the rejection of its offer under solicitation for offers
(SFO) No. 7FL2052, issued by the General Services Administration (GSA) for the
lease of office space for the Social Security Administration (SSA) in
BACKGROUND
The solicitation sought offers for the lease of a minimum
of 18,508 square feet of office space.
Of relevance to this protest, the solicitation advised prospective offerors that “the overall building floor-plate cannot
exceed a 2:1 ratio (space should be no more than twice as long as it is wide),”
SFO sect. 1.4;[1]
the solicitation further instructed that all of the space was to be on the same
floor.[2]
The SFO also set forth a series of
internal space requirements (square footage and special requirements pertaining
to particular rooms to be located in the space), and advised that the actual
dimensions of the internal spaces would be shown on the government design
intent drawings to be provided to the lessor after award.[3] Offers were due by
The protester, which is the incumbent lessor, submitted an
offer on
As the incumbent Lessor, the main objective of this proposal is to expand the existing building in such a way as to minimize any disruption to the current activities of this facility while meeting the requirements of the SFO 1.4, in particular the SSA’s requirement that the building floor plate be no more than 2 time[s] [as] long as it is wide. Reviewing Section III of [attachment 3 to the SFO,] it is clear that the intent of this unique requirement is to allow for the maximum flexibility for furniture placement with rectangular space and with a large open area.This proposal clearly meets the intent of the requirement in the following ways:
1. The SFO prefers the multipurpose room and storage room to be located contiguous to the main office space. This plan complies with that requirement.
2. By relocating the Manager’s and Assistant Manager’s offices to the new addition, along with the Interview room and IVT room we free up a large open area providing an efficient layout for the placement of work stations. . . .
3. The open work space created by this arrangement is approximately 90 feet wide and 180 feet long which complies with the “intent” of the 2:1 requirement for efficient furniture layout.
* * * *
. . . We submit that the deviation contained herein is minor in nature in that it clearly meets the stated “intent” of the 2:1 requirement and would be advantageous to the government in that it will permit the SSA to stay in its current space so the cost and disruption of relocating is eliminated. . . .
Protest, exh. B, Barnesville’s Proposal, Item 19 Attachment.
By letter dated
The protester responded with a letter in which it
recognized that its proposal did not “strictly meet the 2:1 requirement if the
‘floorplate’ is used as the sole criterion” because of its proposed relocation
of the offices and other rooms, and reiterated why it considered its approach
to be a “superior option.” Protester’s Letter
to GSA Real Estate Broker,
By letter dated March 6, the agency’s representative notified the protester that its revised offer still did not meet the required 2:1 ratio, and that if the protester’s final offer did not meet the ratio, the government would have no alternative but to consider the protester’s offer unacceptable.
The protester responded by challenging the agency
representative’s conclusion that its failure to demonstrate compliance with the
requirement that the building floorplate not exceed a 2:1 ratio rendered its
offer unacceptable. Barnesville maintained
that the “floorplate criteri[on]” was “void on its face” because the
specifications clearly permitted the storage and multipurpose rooms to be
separated from the main office area. Protester’s
Letter to GSA Real Estate Broker,
By letter dated April 2, the contracting officer notified the protester that its proposal had been determined unacceptable. On April 7, Barnesville protested to our Office.
ANALYSIS
The protester argues that since the solicitation allows
for the multipurpose and storage rooms to be separated from the main office
area by a public corridor, GSA must consider designs that do not meet the 2:1
ratio. The protester’s argument, as we
understand it, is that the agency has effectively waived the requirement that
the space be no more than twice as long as it is wide by permitting the storage
and multipurpose rooms to be located noncontiguous to the rest of the
space. We disagree.
In interpreting the language of a solicitation, we read
the solicitation as a whole and in a manner that gives effect to all its
provisions. SRI Int’l, Inc., B‑250327.4,
Next, the protester argues that it satisfied the intent of
the requirement that the space be no more than twice as long as it is wide by
proposing a plan for subdividing the space that provides for a large open space
of the required rectangular shape. It is
the role of the agency, not the lessor, to determine how the interior space will
be subdivided, however. See SFO sect.
5.17. Moreover, the requirement is that
the overall space be no more than twice as long as it is wide, not that it be
possible to subdivide the space in a manner that results in a large open area
meeting the 2:1 requirement.
The protester further argues that the 2:1 ratio requirement
has been ambiguous from the outset. We
will not consider this argument because it was not raised in a timely manner. Our Bid Protest Regulations require that
protests based upon alleged improprieties in a solicitation that are apparent
prior to the closing time for receipt of proposals be filed prior to that time.
4 C.F.R. sect. 21.2(a)(1) (2008). Here, the requirement that the leased space
be no more than twice as long as it is wide was included in the SFO at the time
it was issued. Accordingly, to be
timely, any protest of the requirement would have had to be raised prior to the
closing time set for receipt of initial offers on
The protester also complains that the agency failed to
furnish it with a debriefing. An
agency’s failure to provide a debriefing is not a matter that we will
consider. This is because the scheduling
of a debriefing is a procedural matter that does not involve the validity of an
award. The Ideal Solution, LLC,
B-298300,
Finally, in its comments on the agency report, the
protester raised the argument that the real estate brokerage firm that
conducted this acquisition on behalf of GSA had a conflict of interest in that
it stood to benefit financially from the selection of a higher-priced
offer. The protester points out in this
connection that the broker’s commission typically is a specified percentage of
the rent paid the lessor, meaning that the broker will receive more
compensation if it selects a higher-priced lessor to receive the award.
We will not consider this argument because it too is based on information that was provided to offerors in the solicitation, and thus, to be timely, should have been raised prior to the closing time for receipt of proposals. 4 C.F.R. sect. 21.2(a)(1). In this connection, the SFO notified offerors that:
For the purposes of this SFO, The Staubach Company (the Broker) is the authorized real estate broker representing GSA. . . . The government expects the Lessor to pay a commission to the Broker. . . . The commission will be negotiated between the Lessor and the Broker and will be based on a lease term not to exceed the firm term of the lease contract. . . .
SFO at 9. Given
that the SFO made clear that the successful offeror was required to pay a
commission to the broker and that the amount of the commission was to be
negotiated between the offeror and the broker, offerors were on notice of the
procedure regarding the broker’s commission, and any challenge to the procedure
should have been filed before the closing time for receipt of proposals.
The protest is denied.
Gary L. Kepplinger
General Counsel
[1] This requirement was reiterated in section III (General Design Requirements) of attachment 3 to the SFO (Special Requirements for the Social Security Administration), which provided as follows:
It is a requirement that overall dimensions of the space shall have a maximum length to width ratio of 2 to 1. Preference will be given to blocks of space that allow maximum flexibility for furniture placement, i.e., few or no columns or other obstructions, rectangular in shape, no curves or off-sets, and with large open areas. . . .
SFO, att. 3 at 2.
[2] The section setting forth this requirement provided more fully as follows:
Street-level, contiguous (same floor) space is preferred. Contiguous upper-floor space on one floor which meets GSA lease criteria and has handicapped accessible elevator service is an acceptable alternative. We prefer that the storage and/or multipurpose rooms be located contiguous with the main office space. However, these rooms only, and their associated square footage, may be separated from the main office area by a public corridor. . . .
SFO, att. 3 at 2.
[3]
Required interior spaces included a manager’s office and an assistant manager’s
office; a reception area; and storage, interview, interactive video training
(IVT), multipurpose, and automatic data processing (ADP) rooms.