[Protest of Air Force Rejection of Proposal for Duplicating Equipment]

A firm protested the Air Force's rejection of its proposal for duplicating equipment, contending that: (1) its bid was low; (2) its proposed equipment achieved the same end results as the awardee's, although it had different features; (3) the solicitation was specifically amended to accommodate such differences in equipment; and (4) the Air Force improperly rejected its proposal based solely on the personal preference of personnel in the using activity. GAO held that: (1) it would not consider the portion of the protest regarding technical acceptability determinations absent a showing of unreasonableness or statutory and regulatory violations; and (2) the protester failed to prove that the Air Force showed bias in favor of equipment originally described over equipment described in the solicitation amendment. Accordingly, the protest was denied.