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2024.03.07 Attachment to Item 6f Letter of Protest - Stanford Camp Haen Constructors 1012 Industrial Ave Ste 2 South Lake Tahoe, CA 96150 (530) 541-4700 02/26/2024 South Tahoe Public Utility District 1275 Meadow Crest Dr. South Lake Tahoe, CA 96150 Formal Bid Protest Stanford Sierra Camp Generator Replacement Project To whom it may concern, Haen Constructors would like to formally submit a bid protest with South Tahoe Public Utility District for the Stanford Sierra Camp Generator Replacement Project. When following the formal bid process, issues with PlanetBids, outside of Haen Constructors control, prevented we the contractor from uploading all documents appropriately resulting in our formal submission being posted less than one minute after close. Cause: Haen Constructors followed the normal document upload process through PlanetBids beginning at 01:43:14pm PST through 01:56:00pm PST via two different workstations and two separate ISP’s. Each instance until the eventual acceptance by PlanetBids of our documents resulted in an error message. See – Evidence 1 – During this time where Haen Constructors was experiencing issues, an email outlining the issues we were facing was sent to the S.T.P.U.D. employee, Star Glaze. The intent of this email was to show that Haen Constructors was being proactive during this situation and to inform the necessary parties before bid close. See – Evidence 2 – The documents were successfully uploaded to PlanetBids at 01:56:00pm PST with our formal submission of documents and pricing at 01:58:16pm PST. PlanetBids responded to Star’s request for evidence on this matter by informing her that the bid was not fully submitted until 02:00:45PM PST, only 45 seconds after bid close, regardless of the fact that the submission was initiated more than a minute and half prior to close. See – Evidence 3 Haen Constructors 1012 Industrial Ave Ste 2 South Lake Tahoe, CA 96150 (530) 541-4700 02/26/2024 Response: Haen Constructors followed the appropriate protocol for a bid submission, but the PlanetBids site was responding with an error message when attempting to upload our documents. The shear fact that two workstations and two separate ISP’s were kicking back the same error code leads us to firmly believe that this was an issue with the PlanetBids site and not with Haen Constructors. We can see from PlanetBid’s email response to Star that two separate IP addresses were selecting “Place eBid” which is required to initiate uploading a document. There would be no reason for Haen Constructors to select “Place eBid” 8 different times unless there was an issue, such as the one we experienced, as we were only uploading two documents. PlanetBids responded to Star’s request for evidence with the aforementioned IP addresses and selections on their site as well as the statement below: “Although they pressed submit before the bid closing, it took about 2.5 minutes for submission, which went 45 seconds past the due date (2:00:45 PM). Seems like they had a bit of a slow connection because it took a little long to upload their 20mb of files.” PlanetBids never comments on the error messages that Haen Constructors provided to Star during the upload phase. Haen Constructors is being penalized for their “late” bid submission, but Haen Constructors was only late due to website issues that were never mentioned or even acknowledged by PlanetBids and out of their control. If Haen constructors did not encounter an error when uploading their documents at 01:43:14pm PST and they were submitted appropriately without issue, then our formal bid submission would not have been late. Furthermore, following the statement from PlanetBids that the contractor must have had a slow internet connection, Haen constructors performed a speed test of their network for IP: 24.180.39.39 which resulted in over a 9mbps upload speed which would be more than adequate for the small document sizes. Internet upload speeds were clearly of no issue. See – Evidence 4 Haen Constructors 1012 Industrial Ave Ste 2 South Lake Tahoe, CA 96150 (530) 541-4700 02/26/2024 Addendums: During the bid window, there looks to be three addendums issued for this project which contractors are required to review and acknowledge in their bid forms. Apt time must be provided to contractors to review these addendums during the bidding process, which in this case was not provided. If we look at PlanetBids today, we can see that Addendum 3 was not published until February 20th, the same day the bids are due. See – Evidence 5 – It is also stated that “Due to a clerical error Addendum No. 3 has been reposted to PlanetBids PLEASE acknowledge it prior to posting your bid.” A reasonable amount of time was not provided to the contractors to review and acknowledge the third addendum. California Code, Public Contract Code - PCC § 4104.5 also states that if an addendum changing the materials or scope of a bid or project is issued then the date and time must be extended by no less than 72 hours. Evidence 1 Evidence 2 2/26/24, 5:16 PM Haen Constructors Inc Mail - Haen - Stanford Camp - Bid Docs - Failure to load https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ik=441005dc95&view=pt&search=all&permthid=thread-f:1791456827978394316&simpl=msg-f:17914568279783943…1/6 Ryan Hock <rhock@hcislt.com> Haen - Stanford Camp - Bid Docs - Failure to load 3 messages Patricia Paulin <ppaulin@hcislt.com>Tue, Feb 20, 2024 at 1:59 PM To: Star Glaze <sglaze@stpud.us> Cc: Ryan Hock <rhock@hcislt.com>, Robert Haen <rhaen@hcislt.com> Hi Star, We are encountering issues with Planet Bids when trying to upload the documents. Attached are screenshots of the error messages. I've also included our bid docs attached to this email. Thanks, Patricia P. Evidence 3 2/26/24, 5:11 PM Haen Constructors Inc Mail - FW: Re:[## 45752 ##] Bidding History https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ik=441005dc95&view=pt&search=all&permthid=thread-f:1791733353261473008&simpl=msg-f:17917333532614730…1/6 Ryan Hock <rhock@hcislt.com> FW: Re:[## 45752 ##] Bidding History 2 messages Star Glaze <sglaze@stpud.us>Fri, Feb 23, 2024 at 3:14 PM To: Robert Haen <Rhaen@hcislt.com>, Ryan Hock <rhock@hcislt.com> Cc: Trevor Coolidge <tcoolidge@stpud.us> Good Afternoon, As discussed with Ryan this afternoon, we received the following response from PlanetBids with regards to your Stanford Sierra Camp Generator Replacement Project submission. Unfortunately, PlanetBids did not find an error on their site that would have prevented the documentation from being uploaded prior to the Bid deadline of 2:00 pm on Tuesday February 20th. Please do not hesitate to contact Trevor, the Project Manager, with any further questions. Starlet Glaze Contracts Specialist South Tahoe Public Utility District sglaze@stpud.dst.ca.us Phone : 530-543-6205 From: PlanetBids Inc. <support@planetbids1.zohodesk.com> Sent: Wednesday, February 21, 2024 5:51 PM To: Star Glaze <sglaze@stpud.us> Subject: Re:[## 45752 ##] Bidding History 2/26/24, 5:11 PM Haen Constructors Inc Mail - FW: Re:[## 45752 ##] Bidding History https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ik=441005dc95&view=pt&search=all&permthid=thread-f:1791733353261473008&simpl=msg-f:17917333532614730…2/6 Dear Starlet Glaze, PlanetBids has left the following comment on your ticket, #45752. In regards to the Bidding History request you submitted: Project: Stanford Sierra Camp Generator Replacement Project Vendor: Haen Constructors Vendor selected Place eBid 12 times. (as you can see from the IP address's, they were working on multiple computers) 174.202.26.42 02/20/2024 12:00:11 PM (PST) 174.202.26.42 02/20/2024 12:00:35 PM (PST) 24.180.39.39 02/20/2024 12:59:03 PM (PST) 174.202.26.42 02/20/2024 1:00:51 PM (PST) 174.202.26.42 02/20/2024 1:43:14 PM (PST) 174.202.26.42 02/20/2024 1:49:02 PM (PST) 174.202.26.42 02/20/2024 1:49:28 PM (PST) 24.180.39.39 02/20/2024 1:50:38 PM (PST) 24.180.39.39 02/20/2024 1:52:13 PM (PST) 24.180.39.39 02/20/2024 1:53:35 PM (PST) 24.180.39.39 02/20/2024 1:54:32 PM (PST) 174.202.26.42 02/20/2024 1:56:00 PM (PST) Vendor selected Submit once: 174.202.26.42 02/20/2024 1:58:16 PM (PST)Bid closed Draft Created 02/20/2024 1:01:35 PM (PST) Draft Updated 02/20/2024 1:50:12 PM (PST) 2/26/24, 5:11 PM Haen Constructors Inc Mail - FW: Re:[## 45752 ##] Bidding History https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ik=441005dc95&view=pt&search=all&permthid=thread-f:1791733353261473008&simpl=msg-f:17917333532614730…3/6 Although they pressed submit before the bid closing, it took about 2.5 minutes for submission, which went 45 seconds past the due date (2:00:45 PM). Seems like they had a bit of a slow connection because it took a little long to upload their 20mb of files. Please let us know if you have any questions. Regards, PlanetBids, Inc. Support Team ---- on Wed, 21 Feb 2024 10:18:16 -0800 PlanetBids Inc.<support@planetbids1.zohodesk.com> wrote ---- Dear Starlet Glaze, PlanetBids has left the following comment on your ticket, #45752. Your request for your vendor's bidding history has been submitted to our IT Team. We will get back to you quickly with a report. Regards, PlanetBids, Inc. Support Team ---- on Wed, 21 Feb 2024 10:01:24 -0800 "Star Glaze"<sglaze@stpud.us> wrote ---- Hi All, 2/26/24, 5:11 PM Haen Constructors Inc Mail - FW: Re:[## 45752 ##] Bidding History https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ik=441005dc95&view=pt&search=all&permthid=thread-f:1791733353261473008&simpl=msg-f:17917333532614730…4/6 The project title is Stanford Sierra Camp Generator Replacement Project. The Bid Opened yesterday, 2/20 at 2:00 PM. Thanks! Starlet Glaze Contracts Specialist South Tahoe Public Utility District sglaze@stpud.dst.ca.us Phone : 530-543-6205 From: PlanetBids Inc. <support@planetbids1.zohodesk.com> Sent: Wednesday, February 21, 2024 9:57 AM To: Star Glaze <sglaze@stpud.us> Subject: Re:[## 45752 ##] Bidding History Hi Starlet, PlanetBids has left the following comment on your ticket, #45752. We will need the project title and closing date for the bid you are requesting this vendor's history. Regards, PlanetBids, Inc. Support Team 2/26/24, 5:11 PM Haen Constructors Inc Mail - FW: Re:[## 45752 ##] Bidding History https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ik=441005dc95&view=pt&search=all&permthid=thread-f:1791733353261473008&simpl=msg-f:17917333532614730…5/6 ---- on Wed, 21 Feb 2024 09:53:07 -0800 Starlet Glaze<sglaze@stpud.us> wrote ---- Can we please have a history of this bidder (Haen Constructors). They said they were unable to submit prior to bid closing. V-Bid number is 365080. Thanks! This email message has been delivered safely and archived online by Mimecast. This email message has been delivered safely and archived online by Mimecast. This email message has been delivered safely and archived online by Mimecast. This email message has been delivered safely and archived online by Mimecast. Ryan Hock <rhock@hcislt.com>Fri, Feb 23, 2024 at 4:26 PM To: Robert Haen <rhaen@hcislt.com> Here is what I take from this. Hawaii IP: 174.202.26.42 California IP: 24.180.39.39 We uploaded or attempted to upload documents starting at 12pm. Between 1:43pm and 1:56pm, we were attempting to upload the same two documents. Planet Bids calls out no errors for these uploads between 1:43pm and 1:56pm even though we have photographic evidence that there were in fact errors. Patricia also sent screenshots where the Planet Bids site shows our documents being "100%" during the upload phase but the site would not receive/save them to our account. Upload times on our internet here in California are consistently above 8mbps. See attached photo for current reference, and this is on Wi-Fi where Patricia's computer was hardwired. 8mbps would have no issues with these file sizes. All that Planet Bids calls out is possible slow internet but no errors. We were attempting to upload the same file(s) since 1:43pm and due to an error that is not being called out by Planet Bids, we were only 45 secs delinquent even though they can clearly see we submitted our bid at 01:58:16pm. This is an unjust decision by STPUD and they are taking liberties or making assumptions from Planet Bids response. [Quoted text hidden] -- Ryan Hock Project Manager P: 530-736-6008 rhock@hcislt.com CONFIDENTIALITY NOTE: This e-mail may contain confidential and privileged material for the sole use of the intended recipient(s). Any review, use, distribution or disclosure by others is strictly prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient (or authorized to receive on behalf of the recipient), please contact the sender by reply e-mail and delete all copies of this message. 2/26/24, 5:11 PM Haen Constructors Inc Mail - FW: Re:[## 45752 ##] Bidding History https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ik=441005dc95&view=pt&search=all&permthid=thread-f:1791733353261473008&simpl=msg-f:17917333532614730…6/6 Haen Internet Speeds.png 82K Evidence 4 Evidence 5