[Protest of Navy Exclusion of Firm From Competitive Range]

A firm protested the Navy's exclusion of its proposal from the competitive range under a small business set-aside solicitation for communications equipment, contending that: (1) the Navy should include its proposal in the competitive range for discussions, since there was only one other competing firm; and (2) its bid price was substantially lower than the Navy's estimate. GAO held that: (1) the Navy reasonably determined that the protester's proposal was technically unacceptable and could not be made acceptable through discussions; and (2) since the protester's proposal was technically unacceptable, its bid price was irrelevant. Accordingly, the protest was denied.