Protest of Contract Award Alleging Buy-In

A company protested the award of a contract to a competitor for providing management and technical assistance services in various geographical areas to eligible individuals or enterprises. The protester contended that the awardee's offers to provide services in three areas were each a "buy-in" and questioned whether the firm could deliver the required services at such low prices. The possibility of a buy-in or the submission of a below-cost bid is not proper basis upon which to challenge the validity of a contract. The protester also questioned whether its proposal received full consideration in view of the fact that price was established as worth only 30 percent of the evaluation. The record showed that for each of the three areas awarded, the protester was not ranked higher than a third in total score and in each instance scored considerably below the awardee in the technical evaluation. Thus, the record did not establish that the protester's proposal was not evaluated properly. The protest was denied.