[Request for Review of USDA Decision To Deny Bid Correction]

A firm protested the Forest Service's refusal to allow it to correct its bid. The Forest Service determined that the protester failed to provide sufficient proof of its intended bid price. The protester submitted to the Forest Service a computer printout summarizing projected costs and profits and an unsworn statement by which it attempted to demonstrate that it had transposed two digits in the bid price. The Forest Service found that the computer printout was not reliable because it could have been tampered with. GAO noted that written worksheets, which are generally acceptable as evidence of an intended bid price, are as easily tampered with as computer printouts. However, GAO found that, in this case, the contracting officer did not act unreasonably in refusing to allow correction of the bid. Accordingly, the protest was denied.