Rejection of Low Offer for Failure To Justify Manning Levels

The protesters objected to the award of a contract, with one bidder alleging that its low offer was improperly rejected and the other bidder alleging that the successful offer was improperly accepted. The solicitation required justification if the offeror proposed manning levels lower than the Government estimate and the offeror "guaranteed" tomeet the contract's requirements at no increase in price. The low offer was properly rejected since, if performance was required at the Government estimate, the offerer's price did not support its basic labor costs as required by the solicitation. No basis existed for questioning the award to the offerer who proposed manning levels lower than the Government estimate where the offerer properly substantiated the deficiency and the offer met other solicitation requirements without regard to prices submitted for the volume variation factor.