[Request for Reconsideration of Denied Claim for Bid and Protest Preparation Costs Under Army Solicitation for Compasses]

A firm requested further reconsideration of its denied claim for bid and protest preparation costs under an Army solicitation for compasses. GAO had held that the protester's bid was materially unbalanced, since it failed to allocate prices for certain line items. In its second request for reconsideration, the protester contended that: (1) the original decision did not consider a procurement provision requiring identification of price-related factors as an evaluation criterion; (2) the solicitation failed to specify balanced first-article pricing as an evaluation factor; and (3) its bid complied with the solicitation's requirements. GAO held that the: (1) Army properly rejected the protester's bid, since the protester failed to properly allocate the cost of its first-article testing for certain line items; (2) protester bore the risk of its inability to produce an acceptable product; (3) cost of acquiring the required equipment was related to contract performance; and (4) Army properly used cost accounting standards to measure and allocate contract costs. Accordingly, the claim was denied.