Protest Against Rejection of Bid Samples

The protester objected to the rejection of its low bid, contending that its bid samples complied with the subjective characteristics of the solicitation and that rejection was based on an objective characteristic while the solicitation stated that bid samples would be examined only as to compliance with subjective characteristics. The rejection of bid samples for poor "workmanship" was proper where that term was defined by the solicitation, and the testing laboratory's determination that bid samples complied with the subjective characteristics of the solicitation was not a sufficient basis to overcome the judgment of the contracting agency, especially where the agency and the laboratory did not test the same samples.