The riddle: When is a bid proposal complete?

When is an almost complete bid proposal, in fact, complete?

When an agency finds that a company’s costs on a cost-reimbursement contract are not reasonably supported.

Why?

Because, “an agency, as part of the cost-realism analysis, can adjust the proposed costs to account for this lack of supporting information,” the Government Accountability Office wrote in a bid protest decision released July 18.

GAO sustained a protest by SafeGuard Services (SGS) against the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). SGS had to revise its original proposal because the agency had a few questions about the proposed costs from a "minor subcontractor" on SGS's bid on an indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract for oversight services. However, SGS claimed that CMS’ contracting officer inappropriately rejected its proposal for being late.

SGS submitted its proposal by the stated deadlines. The subcontractor didn’t, though. As a result of the late delivery, the contracting officer decided SGS’ proposal was incomplete and then ousted the bid.

GAO said, wait a minute there, CMS. An officer can’t throw a bid out the window too quickly, because the bid actually was complete.

“We conclude that the agency improperly rejected SGS’ entire [revised proposal] as late without considering whether the proposal was acceptable without the subcontractor’s revised business proposal, and we sustain the protest on this basis,” GAO decided.

Yes, it may be a tough riddle to get right. If you didn’t answer the riddle correctly, remember in the future cost-realism analysis.

Posted by Matthew Weigelt on Jul 18, 2011 at 2:10 PM