B-311332; B-311332.2, Corcel Corporation, June 13, 2008
Decision
Ray
Corona for the protester.
Warren D. Leishman, Esq., Agency for International Development, for the agency.
Eric M. Ransom, Esq., and Christine S. Melody, Esq., Office
of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision.
DIGEST
1. Agency reasonably concluded that it had a compelling reason to cancel an invitation for bids after bid opening where the solicitation’s specifications were inadequate to meet the agency’s needs.
2. Agency did not improperly make an award during the pendency of the protest where the order was issued under an existing indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for a different type of product.
DECISION
Corcel Corporation protests the decision of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to cancel, after the opening of the bids, that portion of invitation for bids (IFB) No. 294-2008-001 seeking bids for valves. Corcel also protests the agency’s replacement procurement for the valves under an existing indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (ID/IQ) contract.
BACKGROUND
The challenged procurement is for approximately 62
kilometers of pipe and pipeline supplies intended to provide drinking water to
the south
USAID issued the IFB on
As relevant to this protest, “BOQ B” of the solicitation
set forth the requirement for valves.
This consisted of seven types of Class 300 buried gate valves, 215 in
total. With regard to the specific technical
requirements, BOQ B stated that a bidder must “[s]upply flanged Gate Valves
with all required accessories and parts for buried applications.” IFB, Attachment 3D, BOQ B, at 1. In detailed technical specifications attached
to BOQ B, USAID also listed further requirements for Class 300 gate valves for
buried applications. These
specifications stated that Class 300 valves must be “[s]uitable for buried
water service,” and that the approved manufacturers and products were “Velan”
valves, or equal.
The BOQ and technical specifications were provided to
USAID engineers by the Palestinian Water Authority (PWA). Contracting Officer’s Statement of Facts, at
2. The contracting officer has
represented that these specifications are standard and widely used in the
Three firms submitted bids in response to the IFB by the
On January 28, USAID requested that Corcel provide
additional information to confirm that its offered valves were suitable for
buried water service, and advised Corcel that a “non-rising stem valve is the
only type valve that should be used in buried applications.”[1] Engineer’s Statement of Facts, Tab A. Corcel responded on the same day that it
proposed to provide “outside screw and yoke” Class 300 gate valves, and
disputed that NRS valves were the only valves suitable for buried applications.
USAID engineers shared this information with specialty
engineers from the PWA and two
Corcel filed its protest with our Office on March 6,
alleging that the agency’s decision to cancel the solicitation was improper
because the solicitation was not ambiguous and NRS valves were not necessary to
meet the agency’s needs. Also in March,
USAID began to pursue an alternative procurement for the required valves by
issuing a task order to CH2M Hill under the firm’s existing ID/IQ contract for
construction management services. The
task order provided funding for the procurement of water valves for the south
On March 18, Corcel learned from one of its manufacturers
that CH2M Hill was soliciting quotes for valves for the south
ANALYSIS
With
regard to the cancellation of the IFB, a contracting agency must have a
compelling reason to cancel an IFB after bid opening because of the potential
adverse impact on the competitive bidding system of resolicitation after bid
prices have been exposed. Federal
Acquisition Regulation (FAR) sect. 14.404-1(a)(1);
USAID first contends that its decision to cancel BOQ B was reasonable because the specifications for Class 300 gate valves were ambiguous with regard to whether NRS or RS gate valves were required. USAID states that the omission of language specifying NRS valves likely arose because the shortcomings of RS valves in buried applications appeared self-evident to USAID’s engineers and outside technical staff. AR, Tab 3, Memorandum, at 5. Thus, to these engineers, specifying that the project was for buried water lines meant that only NRS valves were suitable. USAID therefore argues that the specifications were ambiguous because its engineers interpreted the specification language to mean that only NRS valves would work, while to Corcel, the specification of a buried application did not eliminate RS valves from consideration.
Specifications
must be sufficiently definite and free from ambiguity so as to permit
competition on an equal basis. Hebco,
Inc., B-228394, Dec. 8, 1987, 87-2 CPD para. 565 at 2-3. An ambiguity exists if a solicitation
requirement is subject to more than one reasonable interpretation when read in
the context of the solicitation as a whole.
Phil Howry Co., B-245892,
The specification requirements for Class 300 gate valves, as relevant here, were limited to the statement that the valves must be suitable for buried service. However, the specification document attached to the BOQ also contained requirements for other types of valves, and in a specification for lower pressure valves, the specification document explicitly required that the valves be “[s]uitable for buried service with non-rising stem.” AR, Tab 5, at 5 (emphasis added). By clearly requiring NRS valves in a specification for lower pressure buried gate valves, but not clearly requiring NRS valves for the Class 300 gate valve requirement, the solicitation suggested that any type of Class 300 gate valves suitable for buried service would be acceptable.
Furthermore, the specifications listed “Velan” as an approved manufacturer of the required Class 300 valves. As pointed out by Corcel, Velan does not manufacture a Class 300 NRS gate valve, although it does manufacture a Class 300 RS gate valve. Comments at 4. The agency does not dispute this fact.[2]
Under these circumstances, we think that Corcel’s interpretation of the specifications, that the valves needed only to be suitable for buried use and were not required to be NRS, is the only reasonable interpretation. Therefore, we conclude that there was no ambiguity in the specifications that would justify cancellation of BOQ B of the IFB.
USAID next contends that its decision to cancel BOQ B was reasonable because, if Corcel’s interpretation of the solicitation was the only reasonable reading, then the specifications failed to meet the agency’s needs for the intended project. We agree.
An IFB may be canceled after bid opening, and all bids rejected, where an award under the IFB would not serve the government’s actual needs, Eastern Technical Enter., Inc., B-281319, B-281320, Jan. 22, 1999, 99-1 CPD para. 17 at 2, and our Office will defer to the agency and to the technical expertise of its engineering personnel in defining the government’s needs. Corbin Superior Composites, Inc., B-242394, Apr. 19, 1991, 91-1 CPD para. 389 at 5; Kings Point Mfg. Co., Inc., B-210757, Sept. 19, 1983, 83-2 CPD para. 342 at 3. Accordingly, we will question that determination only where it is shown to have no reasonable basis.
Although Corcel has zealously advocated the technical merits of
its customized RS valves, we conclude from the record that an award under BOQ B
of the IFB would not have met the agency’s needs, and that the cancellation of
BOQ B of the IFB was therefore reasonable.
Based on our review of the record, and specifically of the statements of
the contracting officer, the USAID engineer, the PWA, and the independent engineering
firms consulted by USAID, it is clear that all parties to the approval of the
solicitation understood the specifications to require NRS gate valves. These parties understood NRS gate valves to
be necessary to the project due to their perceptions of the inherent
shortcomings of RS valves in buried applications and their understanding of the
PWA’s technical standards, and clearly did not anticipate that a bidder would
offer RS valves customized for buried applications.
According to the agency, standard off-the-shelf RS valves are not
suitable for buried applications due to several concerns. First among these is that the threaded stem
of a RS valve is at least partially outside the valve body itself, and if buried,
would be directly exposed to dirt and debris that would jam and corrode the
mechanism. Engineer’s Statement of
Facts, at 4. Second, RS valves have more
maintenance issues as they require periodic lubrication, which would be
impossible in the case of a buried valve.
Corcel’s customized valves claim to address the major shortcomings
of RS valves in buried uses by equipping the standard RS valve with custom stem
enclosures, sealed lubrication housings, and a separately manufactured valve
box. However, these customizations do
not allay all of the agency’s concerns about the use of RS valves in buried
applications, and introduce some additional concerns.
For example, the agency remains concerned about the lubrication
needs of RS stem valves, and how those needs would be met once the valves were
buried. Agency Technical Supplement, at
3. In response, Corcel has referred to
its manufacturer’s catalog sheet on “adapto-gear actuators” which are “fully
enclosed light weight, maintenance free, bevel gear units for valves that
require gearing to facilitate operation.”
Comments, at 8; Corcel Supplementary Response, at 4. Corcel highlights the assurance that these
parts are “maintenance free.” However, this claim relates to the
adapto-gear actuator, an accessory item, and not the RS valves themselves. See Comments, Tab 12. It is unclear that such an accessory, for
valves that require gearing, would be suitable or necessary for the valves
required under the BOQ. Protest, Tab 3,
at 1. Furthermore, the agency is
reasonably concerned that these customizations and accessories may themselves
add an unnecessary maintenance burden on the PWA, and that the addition of such
customizations and accessories will further exacerbate the height drawback
inherent to RS valves. Agency Technical
Supplement, at 3. Finally, despite
Corcel’s customizations, Corcel is still offering RS valves, which the agency
is reasonably concerned will not be acceptable to the PWA. Contracting Officer’s Statement of Facts, at
4; Engineer’s Statement of Facts, Tab D.
In light of the foregoing concerns and the clear statement of the
PWA that only NRS valves are acceptable, we think that the USAID engineering
personnel had a reasonable basis to conclude that NRS valves were necessary to
meet the agency’s needs for this project.
On that basis, and also considering the clear consensus that a
requirement for NRS valves had been intended in pre-solicitation planning, we
conclude that the agency had a compelling reason to cancel the BOQ B portion of
the IFB.
With regard to Corcel’s second protest, Corcel essentially alleges that the agency’s issuance of a task
order to CH2M Hill for the procurement of valves for the south Nablus project circumvents the competitive bidding process by excluding Corcel. As a preliminary matter, we note
that agency has not yet issued the notice to proceed with the actual
procurement of valves under the ID/IQ contract, and is withholding the issuance
of that notice during the pendency of this protest. AR, Tab 3, Memorandum, at 8. Moreover, Corcel offers no support, and we
see none, for its assertion that the agency’s use of an existing ID/IQ contract
is improper in this case. On the
contrary, an ID/IQ contract, by definition, is to be used to place orders with
the contractor for items within the scope of the contract, as USAID apparently
plans to do here. See 41 U.S.C. sect.
253h(a) (2000); FAR sect. 16.504(a).
The protests are denied.
Gary L. Kepplinger
General Counsel
[1]
In a non-rising stem (NRS) gate valve, the stem is threaded into a shaft in the
gate. Engineer’s Statement of Facts, at
3. As the hand wheel on the stem is
rotated, the gate travels up or down the stem on the threads, while the stem
itself remains vertically stationary.
[2] The agency suggests that the listing of Velan as an approved manufacturer of the NRS Class 300 gate valves was an oversight, incorporated into the solicitation from a template that has been in use since at least the year 2000.