[Protest of Navy Contract Award for Custodial Services]

A firm protested the Navy's award of a contract to another firm, contending that affidavits and other financial statements that accompanied the awardee's bid bond were defective in form and content. GAO found that these documents served solely as aids to the government in determining the responsibility of an individual surety and the presence of defects did not affect bid responsiveness. The protester alleged that there was bad faith on the part of the Navy officials because: (1) a contracting officer previously rejected the low bidder's sureties on another procurement; (2) the contracting officer relied on outdated information in determining a surety's net worth; and (3) the agency unreasonably delayed the award under another protest. GAO noted that a showing of bad faith required irrefutable proof that these officials had a specific and malicious intent to injure the protester. There was no indication that the protester met this standard. Accordingly, the protest was denied.