Protest Alleging Latent Ambiguity in IFB

A firm protested when its bid, which included an interest charge for payments made after 30 days, was rejected as nonresponsive even though the firm had requested that the charge be deleted from its bid. The General Services Administration contended that the inclusion of a service charge in the bid rendered it nonresponsive and that the bidder could not delete the service charge after bid opening. It was held that since the firm's bid included a condition materially affecting the price, regulations prohibit its deletion or waiver and the bid must be rejected. Therefore, the protest was denied.