[Protest of NIEHS Exclusion of Proposal From Competitive Range]

A firm protested the National Institute of Environmental Health Science's (NIEHS) exclusion of its bid from the competitive range for literature review and analysis, contending that NIEHS unreasonably concluded that its bid was technically unacceptable. GAO held that NIEHS reasonably excluded the protester's bid, which had: (1) significant technical weaknesses in the areas of staffing and requirements understanding; and (2) a substantially lower score than the other bids. Accordingly, the protest was denied.