Protest of Rejection of All Bids and Cancellation of IFB

A company protested the cancellation of an invitation for bids (IFB) by the Navy on two grounds: (1) that, notwithstanding the Navy's statements to the contrary, all bids were not rejected because of the unreasonableness of the prices; and (2) that there was no basis upon which to conclude that its bid was unreasonably priced. It was held that all bids were rejected on the basis of unreasonable price, and that the rejection of all bids and cancellation of the IFB on the basis of unreasonable prices is proper where the price of a responsive bid is 23 percent higher than a low nonresponsive bid. Also, a contracting officer's partial reliance on erroneous information in deciding to cancel procurement is an insufficient basis for concluding that the protester's bid was improperly determined to be unreasonable where subsequently developed information supports the determination.