Skip to main content

[Protest of Proposed NIH Contract Award]

B-213063 Published: Oct 12, 1983. Publicly Released: Oct 12, 1983.
Jump To:
Skip to Highlights

Highlights

A firm protested the proposed award of a contract by the National Institutes of Health, alleging that: (1) the proposed awardee's bid was nonresponsive in that it did not intend to comply with a wage determination incorporated into the contract; (2) the proposed awardee was nonresponsible because of its past record of noncompliance; and (3) the procurement should be canceled and resolicited because all bidders were not competing on an equal basis. GAO held that it does not consider protests involving wage determinations under the Service Contract Act. GAO also held that it does not review a contracting officer's affirmative determination of responsibility absent a showing of fraud, bad faith, or improper application of definitive responsibility criteria. Since, by their submission of bids, all of the bidders committed themselves to perform according to the solicitation requirements, GAO failed to see how the bidders did not compete on an equal basis. Accordingly, the protest was dismissed in part and summarily denied in part.

Full Report

Office of Public Affairs

Topics

Bid responsivenessBidder responsibilityContract award protestsMinimum wage ratesBiddersBid evaluation protestsRegulatory noncomplianceProcurementProtestsWage determinationsSolicitation specificationsBreach of contractIntellectual property rightsImproper award of contract