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B-298011 1 (2006-05-15)

handle is hein.gao/gaobacznd0001 and id is 1 raw text is: G A 0Comptroller General K c Accountability * Integrity * Reliability of the United States United States Government Accountability Office DOCUMENT FOR PUBLIC RELEASE Washington, DC 20548 The decision issued on the date below was subject to a GAO Protective Order. This redacted version has been approved for public release. Decision Matter of: American Printing House for the Blind, Inc. File: B-298011 Date: May 15, 2006 Walter L. Sales, Esq., Stoll Keenon Ogden PLLC, for the protester. David P. Metzger, Esq., Anand V. Ramana, Esq., and David J. Craig, Esq., Holland & Knight LLP, for the American Foundation for the Blind; Frederic G. Antoun, Jr., Esq., for Carolina Talking Books, Inc.; William S. Taylor, Esq., Taylor & Rea, PLC, for Potomac Talking Book Services, Inc.; and James H. Marlow, Esq., Hamilton and Faatz, for Talking Book Publishers, Inc., the intervenors. Emily Vartanian, Esq., Library of Congress, for the agency. Jennifer D. Westfall-McGrail, Esq., and Christine S. Melody, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST 1. Under invitation for bids (IFB) for production of books on tape that provided for multiple awards and limited the number of titles to be awarded to an individual bidder to 500, award of a contract for less than 500 titles to a bidder, which will also be performing work on one aspect of 1,000 additional titles as a subcontractor to two other awardees, was not contrary to 500-title limitation. 2. Allegation that bidders falsely certified to having arrived at their prices independently is a matter for contracting officer's consideration in determining bidder responsibility not subject to Government Accountability Office's review. DECISION American Printing House for the Blind, Inc. (APH) protests the award of contracts for the production of books on tape to Carolina Talking Books, Inc. (CTB), the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB), and Talking Books Publishers, Inc. (TBP) under invitation for bids (IFB) No. 20060046, issued by the Library of Congress. The protester contends that the IFB provided for the award of no more than 500 titles to a bidder, but that CTB has in effect been awarded over 1,000 titles because both AFB and TBP are subcontracting with CTB for the cassette duplication portion of the work on the titles awarded to them. APH further argues that none of these three bidders--CTB, AFB, and TBP--could truthfully have certified to having arrived at their prices independently.