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B-141529 1 (1972-06-16)

handle is hein.gao/gaobablcj0001 and id is 1 raw text is: RESTR1CTED - Not t be 1'eegd 6Ur-I~d Mhe a P~~~-'J Acc~u e xcept *t basis Of Sby th eflx fLg.laicUWov 11NITS WASHINGTON. D.C. 2048IV RELEASED V1 B-141.29 Dear Mr. Cabell: I7 This is in response to your letter of May 11, 1972, requesting that the <4 General Accounting Office review and evaluate the bids for eqUipment recently c1 received by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA). 21 WHATA received these bids as part of the second step in their two-step formalI - advertising procedure in contracting for the purchase of 300 raid transit cars and related items (WMATA prospective contract 2Z0061). The bids were opened on May 3, 1972, and the low bidder was found to be Rohr Industries, Inc., of Chula Vista, Calif.; however, the award of the contract by WMATA is being held in abeyance pending completion of our review. Rohr is cur- rently constructing similar equipment for the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District (BART). Our inquiry included interviews with officials of WMATA and BART and an examination of pertinent records of these agencies. RESPONSIBLE BID In the request it was stated that the original estimate by WMATA for this equipment was $119,043,364, that two of the qualified bidders were within $18,000 of each other at $103,130,000 plus, and that the low bidder submitted a bid of $91,607,000. Some people suspect that the low bid by Rohr is an irre- sponsible bid, submitted in the hope that suggested changes and claims for overruns will result in materially increased payments. Findin'g The 'WMATA estimate prepared on April 7, 1972, includes (1) 300 rapid transit cars at $116,728,500 (a unit price of $389,095), (2) a squeeze test at $20,000, (3) a truck test at $50,000, (4) one lot of spare parts at $1,248,864, and (5) a user education program at $1,O00,000--for a total of $119,047,364. The WMATA unit price estimate of $389,095 was reached by com- paring their proposed rapid transit cars with those of a bidder of a recent New York transit car contract (in which the unit price was $294,960) and then estimating the cost for any differences between the cars. The estimate prepared by WMATA, therefore, did not have the precision that would be characteristic of an engineering estimate derived from a thorough analysis of the material and labor requirements for the items to be built. The Rohr overall bid of $91,607,274 includes (1) 300 transit cars at $89,398,500 (a unit price of $297,995), (2) a squeeze test at $53,744, (3) a truck test at $29,553, (4) one lot of spare parts at $1,903,898, and (5) a user education program at $221,579. We concluded that Rohr's bid was fully responsive to the WMATA request.

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