Protest Against Acceptance of Competitor's Technical Proposal

The protester objected to the award of a contract, alleging that the successful offerer's bid was nonresponsive because it did not meet the contract specifications. The record supported the agency's acceptance of the low bid submitted under the second step of a two-step formally advertised procurement as a proper exercise of discretion, notwithstanding the protester's claim that the offer was nonresponsive. Since evaluation and overall determination of the technical adequacy of a bid is primarily the function of a procuring activity, the evaluation of the acceptability of the successful bid was not disturbed in the absence of a clear showing of unreasonbleness or abuse of discretion. The judgment of the agency's technical personnel was not questioned where the judgment had a reasonable basis and the protester merely presented a divergent technical opinion as to the acceptability of the proposal.