[Request for Review of Delaware Contract Award]

A firm asked GAO to review a State of Delaware contract award made under a Department of Agriculture program grant to operate the State's automated management information system. According to Delaware records, award was made to the incumbent contractor because: (1) the protester failed to offer required software documentation; (2) award to the incumbent contractor would avoid the turmoil accompanying a contractor change; and (3) award to the incumbent would result in cost savings if the number of recipients were reduced because of federal budget cuts. GAO dismissed the protester's contention that its proposal should not have been penalized for failing to offer a documentation manual of the current system, since it did not have an opportunity to review the existing system's documentation. This protest was untimely raised since it was not received before the deadline for receipt of proposals. The protester also contended that the turmoil caused by contractor changeover should not have been considered because it was not set forth in the solicitation as an evaluation factor. GAO found no basis to the complaint because it found that the State amply demonstrated that this concern was justified and legitimately related to the overall acceptability of a firm's offer, rather than to an improper preference for the incumbent contractor. The protester also contended that the State improperly evaluated prices when it considered a possible reduction in beneficiaries and it should have amended the solicitation to notify all offerers that this was a basis for consideration to give them the opportunity to compete on a uniform basis. GAO found that the State should have communicated to the offerers its desire to evaluate prices on that basis if it wished to consider that possibility in the selection. Because its proposal was so much less desirable overall than the awardee's, GAO found that the protester suffered no prejudice and that the State's selection determination was supported by the record. GAO denied a protest that the evaluation was unrealistic because the protester failed to show that the determination was arbitrary or violated procurement regulations. Accordingly, the complaint was dismissed in part and denied in part.