Protest of Maintenance Contract Award

A bidder protested the rejection of its bid as nonresponsive and the award of the contract to any other firm. The protester's bid was determined nonresponsive by the procuring agency because its bid failed to acknowledge receipt of an amendment which increased the scope of work under the specifications of the invitation for bids (IFB). The protester contended that it never received the amendment. Failure to acknowledge an amendment to a solicitation which materially affects an IFB requires rejection of the bid as nonresponsive and this failure may not be waived as a minor informality. Because the protester's bid was properly rejected as nonresponsive, the apparent failure of the procuring agency to follow applicable regulation in making an award prior to resolution of its protest, which is a procedural defect not affecting the validity of an award, did not result in any prejudice to the protester. Therefore, the protest was denied.