[Protests of Navy Contract Award for Engineering Services]

A firm protested a Navy contract award for engineering services, contending that the Navy: (1) treated offerors unequally with regard to their proposed use of Department of Labor wage rates; (2) did not conduct a reasonable cost-realism analysis of the awardee's bid; (3) performed a flawed technical evaluation; and (4) failed to detect and improperly accepted the awardee's explanation for a wage rate inconsistency. GAO found that: (1) the specifications regarding wage rates were not misleading and offerors had an opportunity to respond to the solicitation; (2) contentions regarding discrepancies in the awardee's wage rates did not warrant disturbing the award, since there was no evidence of fraud; (3) the Navy conducted a reasonable cost-realism analysis; and (4) the Navy properly evaluated technical proposals. Accordingly, the protests were denied.