[Protest of Air Force Contract Award for Optical Character Reader]

A firm protested an Air Force contract award, contending that the award was improper because the awardee would not be able to deliver a product that conformed to solicitation requirements. GAO noted that the solicitation described several salient characteristics and required offerers of equal items to supply information establishing the equality of the items. GAO held that: (1) a contracting agency cannot consider salient characteristics in its evaluation when nothing in the solicitation or the listed characteristics requires a specific feature; (2) the awardee furnished descriptive literature in support of its assertion that its model was equal to the brand name model in the solicitation; and (3) the protester did not provide any specific information concerning the liability of the awardee's product to meet the Air Force's requirements. GAO has held that: (1) if a contracting agency finds that an awardee's product is equal to a specified brand name product, the decision will not be questioned unless the awardee's descriptive literature is insufficient on its face; (2) protests against affirmative responsibility determinations will not be reviewed; and (3) the extent to which an awardee might provide a nonconforming item is a matter of contract administration and the responsibility of the contracting agency. Accordingly, the protest was denied.