Opinion ID: 786478
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Mistake in Bid

Text: 36 Finally, NVT argues that even if we find the solicitation ambiguous, its bid mistake argument may still prevail, based on In re IT Corporation, 2002 WL 1476286 (Comp.Gen. July 10, 2002). The government counters that the trial court correctly denied NVT's mistake in bid claim because NVT failed to avail itself of the full information available and referenced in the specification. Moreover, the government notes that it was unaware of any solicitation defect at a time when a correction would be appropriate — i.e., before the selection of the private sector's best proposal — because the significance of the disputed line items was not raised until NVT's appeal before the GAO. The government also distinguishes the IT Corporation case, because in that case, the agency concluded that all of the information available to the offerors did not adequately identify the work required to meet the needs of the contract. 37 IT Corporation, which does not bind this court, stands for the proposition that if a solicitation is defective, such that bidders cannot know on what they are bidding, the solicitation must be rebid. After receiving supplemental briefing from the parties, the trial court carefully analyzed this issue and concluded that the fact that this was an A-76 solicitation did not affect the analysis of this issue, because the associated FAR provisions give no additional rights to bidders of A-76 offers. The trial court further concluded that because NVT failed to inquire, its contention that the solicitation was defective must fail, citing Comtrol, Inc. v. United States, 294 F.3d 1357, 1363-65 (Fed.Cir.2002) (stating that a contractor cannot rely on a defective specification where the contractor failed to access all of the information available and incorporated into the specification). The trial court made no findings as to whether the external information referenced in the solicitation would have provided NVT with complete knowledge, unlike the situation in IT Corporation. 38 We agree with the trial court's conclusion, if not its basis, and hold that NVT's mistake in bid argument must fail. In particular, [i]f a contractor enters into a contract aware of the fact of defective specifications, it is not entitled to recover on a claim based on these defective specifications. Robins Maint., Inc. v. United States, 265 F.3d 1254, 1258 (Fed.Cir.2001) (quoting Johnson Controls, Inc. v. United States, 229 Ct.Cl. 445, 671 F.2d 1312, 1320 (Ct.Cl.1982)). Here, we have concluded that the ambiguity in the solicitation, which is one and the same with the defect alleged by NVT, was patent, and the contractor should have thus inquired. NVT, in failing to inquire as to an ambiguity, cannot then claim that the specification was defective to absolve itself of that failure. Therefore, we affirm the trial court's denial of NVT's mistake in bid claim.