Coastal Carolina Land and Timber, LLC (B-422904)

You should not care.

Category: Pricing, compliance

Date: 11 December 2024

URL: https://www.gao.gov/products/b-422904

Coastal Carolina Land and Timber, LLC, protested the Agriculture Department's rejection of its bid for a timber sale in the Croatan National Forest. The agency found Coastal Carolina's bid nonresponsive, because it failed to meet the minimum advertised rate for the softwood-other timber species, a mandatory requirement of the solicitation.

Coastal Carolina admitted to underbidding the required rate and argued that its bid reflected real-world market values. The protester sought to have its bid accepted as-is, based on its status as the overall highest bidder. However, GAO found that the solicitation’s terms unequivocally required adherence to minimum rates for each species, and failure to meet these rates rendered the bid nonresponsive. Coastal Carolina did not provide clear evidence of an unintentional clerical mistake, further weakening its case, and its protest was denied.

Digest

Protester’s bid is nonresponsive because it failed to bid equal or higher than the minimum advertised rate for a particular species of timber as required by the solicitation.