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B-401172.4 1 (2010-06-07)

handle is hein.gao/gaobadbhz0001 and id is 1 raw text is: AlL A , GA O Comptroller General Accuntabiity * Integrity * Reliability of the United States United States Government Accountability Office Washington, DC 20548 D .. Decision Matter of: Baine Clark Company, Inc.--Costs File: B-401172.4 Date: June 7, 2010 Joseph Billings, Esq., Miles & Stockbridge PC, for the protester. Vera Meza, Esq., Department of the Army, for the agency. Susan K. McAuliffe, Esq., and Christine S. Melody, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Protester requesting reimbursement of protest costs must submit evidence sufficient to support its claim that those costs were incurred, reasonable, and properly attributable to filing and pursuing the protest; claimed costs that improperly aggregate allowable costs with unallowable costs or relate to settlement negotiations are disallowed. DECISION Baine Clark Company, Inc., of Ewing, Kentucky, requests that we determine the amount it should recover from the contracting agency for the costs of filing and pursuing its protest (and supplemental protest) of the adequacy of the price evaluation of quotations under request for quotations No. W22G1F-09-T-0026, issued by the Department of the Army for the lease of three pick-up trucks. We recommend that the protester be reimbursed $24,908.34. Our Office conducted outcome prediction alternative dispute resolution (ADR) with the parties, reporting our anticipated decision sustaining the firm's protests and recommending reimbursement of reasonable protest costs. The agency thereafter advised our Office that it was taking corrective action, including payment of reasonable protest costs; we dismissed the protests as academic on June 16, 2009. On or about August 5, Baine Clark submitted its claim to the agency for reimbursement of its attorneys' fees; the fees were itemized by the firm's initial attorney, Mr. Kirkland, and his retained co-counsel, Mr. Billings. The agency reports that, since it anticipated that any funds reimbursed would go directly to the protester, it requested proof from the firm that the fees had been paid; within a few