[Protests of Air Force Contract Award for Technical Support Services]

Two firms protested an Air Force contract award for technical support services, contending that: (1) the Air Force failed to hold adequate discussions concerning proposal deficiencies; (2) the Air Force ignored cost as an evaluation factor when it selected the awardee; (3) the Air Force improperly credited the awardee with the management experience of the incumbent contractor; (4) the solicitation's evaluation criteria indicated a favorable predisposition toward companies with no prior experience; and (5) the incumbent contractor provided technical and financial assistance to the awardee in the preparation of its proposal. GAO found that: (1) the allegations that the evaluation criteria did not place sufficient emphasis on cost and favored companies with no prior experience were untimely filed; (2) source-selection officials have broad discretion in determining the manner and extent to which they will make use of technical and cost evaluations; (3) the Air Force determined that the awardee's proposal was technically superior and the best overall value to the government; (4) the selection of the awardee's proposal was entirely consistent with the announced evaluation criteria; (5) the solicitation informed offerers that contractor selection would be based on a technical, not cost, competition; (6) the Air Force conducted adequate discussions when it allowed offerers the opportunity to improve their proposals in best and final offers; and (7) the protesters had not shown that any agency action resulted in the awardee having an unfair competitive advantage. Accordingly, the protests were denied in part and dismissed in part.