[Protest of Defense Contract Award]

A firm protested a fixed-price Army contract award for hospital information systems to another firm, contending that the evaluation of its proposal was inconsistent with the evaluation criteria set forth in the solicitation specifications and that the award was objectionable because of the additional cost of the other firm's proposal. GAO found nothing which indicated that the evaluation scheme which was employed by the Army was inconsistent with the specifications. The protester also contended that the acceptance of the awardee's higher priced proposal should have been supported by a specific determination that the technical superiority of the proposal warranted the additional costs involved. GAO stated that the record indicated that such a determination could have been made, that the award was in accordance with the criteria which were set forth in the specifications, and that the award had a rational basis. Accordingly, the protest was denied.