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B-266233 1 (1996-01-26)

handle is hein.gao/gaocrptadut0001 and id is 1 raw text is: 


Comptroller General
of the United States
Washington, D.C. 20548

Decision


Matter of: Morrison Construction Services

File:        B-266233; B-266234

Date:       January 26, 1996

John Chapman for the protester.
Gerald J. Brentnall, Jr., Esq., Rowley, Grace, Brentnall & Kraft, for Farinha, Inc., an
interested party.
Calvin F. Boles IV, Esq., and Cynthia S. Guill, Esq., Department of the Navy, for the
agency.
Susan K. McAuliffe, Esq., and Michael R. Golden, Esq., Office of the General
Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision.
DIGEST

Where bidder has submitted only photocopies of required bid guarantee documents
as of the time of bid opening, the bid guarantees are of questionable enforceability
and the bids were properly rejected as nonresponsive; since responsiveness cannot
be established after bid opening, the defect in the bid guarantees cannot be cured
by the submission of the original bid guarantee documents after bid opening.
DECISION

Morrison Construction Services protests the agency's rejection of its apparent low
bids, and the award of contracts to Farinha, Inc., under invitations for bids (IFB)
Nos. N62766-95-B-0402 and N62766-95-B-0403, issued by the Department of the Navy
for the replacement of air conditioning and heat recovery units at a family housing
area in Guam. Morrison challenges the agency's determination that the bid
guarantees submitted with the protester's bids were defective because they were
photocopies of required bid guarantee documents.

We deny the protests.

Each IFB required the submission of a bid guarantee in the amount of 20 percent of
the bid price. The IFBs' instructions provided that all bids and bonds were to be
submitted in original format and stated that bids must be manually signed. Other
than providing for the timely transmission by facsimile of acknowledgment of
amendments, the IFBs did not expressly authorize facsimile bids or modifications.
Six bids were received by bid opening on August 17, 1995. Morrison's apparent low


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