HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.
![handle is hein.gao/gaocrptappr0001 and id is 1 raw text is:
G A 0 Comptroller General
SIntegrity Reliability of the United States
~ccountabthty Inert Rea iy
United States Government Accountability Office
Washington, DC 20548
Decision
Matter of: Oregon Potato Company
File: B-294839
Date: December 27, 2004
Richard A. Sargent for the protester.
Michael Gurwitz, Esq., Department of Agriculture, for the agency.
Kenneth Kilgour, Esq., and Christine S. Melody, Esq., Office of the General Counsel,
participated in the preparation of the decision.
DIGEST
Protest regarding procurement for supply of commodity for export overseas is
sustained where the solicitation failed to advise offerors that an offer would not be
considered if, in a separate procurement seeking bids to transport the commodity to
the ultimate destination, the agency failed to receive a bid corresponding to an
offeror's proposed delivery location. Without this information, offerors lacked
sufficient information to prepare their offers intelligently and to compete on an equal
basis.
DECISION
Oregon Potato Company (OPC) protests the rejection of its offer under invitation
No. 094E, issued by the Commodity Credit Corporation, Farm Service Agency,
Kansas City Commodity Office, for dehydrated potato flakes for export to the nation
of Moldova. OPC argues that the invitation failed to disclose a key factor necessary
for the firm to intelligently prepare its offer.
We sustain the protest.
The invitation, issued on September 3, 2004, called for a specified quantity of potato
flakes divided between two shipping periods. With regard to delivery of the potato
flakes by the offeror, the invitation stated that [d]elivery will be either [free
alongside steamer (f.a.s.)], intermodal plant, or intermodal bridge as specified in the
contract. Invitation at 2. With regard to specific delivery locations, the invitation
stated that offerors should submit prices for the potato flakes based on delivery by
the offeror to any location listed on the agency's form KC-362, the offeror's plant
location, or any of the nine plant locations already listed in the invitation. The form](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.gao/gaocrptappr0001&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)