[Protest of GSA Rejection of Bid as Nonresponsive]

A firm protested the General Services Administration's (GSA) rejection of its bid as nonresponsive because it offered an acceptance period of only 30 days while the solicitation required a minimum acceptance period of 60 days. The protester argued that: (1) its bid should have been construed as offering 30 days in addition to the required 60 days for a total bid acceptance period of 90 days; and (2) GSA should have waived the defect by allowing it to delete the 30-day provision from its bid. GAO held that: (1) since a provision in the solicitation required bids to remain available for acceptance for a prescribed period of time, the defect could not be waived or cured after bids had been opened; and (2) a bid must be rejected as nonresponsive if it is as ambiguous to whether it represents an unequivocal offer to comply with a material requirement. Accordingly, the protest was dismissed.