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![handle is hein.gao/gaobadhbv0001 and id is 1 raw text is:
THE COMPTROLLER GENERAL
DECISION . OF THE UNITED STATES
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20548
FILE: B-193399 DATE: APril 5, 1979
MATTER OF: Sierra Pacific Indus tries--Reonsideration]
DIGEST:
Bidder is justified in placing reasonable
reliance on estimates stated in purchaser
road credit portion of timber sale contract;
if, as here, agency negligently states
unreasonable estimate for road clearing,
mutual mistake as to accuracy of estimate
exists and reformation of contract to allow
additional compensation for doing required
clearing work is proper. Prior denial of
claim is reversed.
Sierra Pacific Industries (Sierra) requests recon-
sideration of our decision in Sierra Pacific Industries,
B-193399, December 5, 1978, 78-2 CPD 390, in which we
denied the firm's claim of $13,804 for road-clearing work
done in connection with Cook Timber Sale under Department
of Agriculture contract No. 017753. The basis of Sierra's
request for reconsideration is that the legal principle
of mutual mistake allows reformation of the contract and
payment of the claim.
As indicated in the previous decision, Sierra was
required to constuct certain roads for hauling logs as
part of the timber sale. The purchaser road credit limit
for road No. 28NO2 was $127,902, of which $6,960 was
allotted for clearing land which the contract specified
as being an estimated six acres. When Sierra constructed
road No. 28N02, it alleged that it cleared 17.9 acres,
resulting in costs exceeding the allotted amount for
clearing by $13,804. The agency does not dispute that
the contract specified an estimated six acres for clearing,
nor does it dispute that this amount was an error--
apparently typographical.
In initially denying Sierra's claim, we pointed out
that the prospectus for the timber sale under.item 7 put
bidders on notice that estimates were not guaranteed and](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.gao/gaobadhbv0001&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)