Protest of Bid Rejection as Nonresponsive

The aggregate low bidder for a maintenance contract protested rejection of its bid by the procuring agency because of failure to submit a bid bond. The protester contended that the wording of the invitation for bids (IFB) was so unclear as to leave doubt whether bonding was required. To support this contention, the protester cited the fact that four of the five bidders on the contract failed to submit a bid bond. Furnishing a bid bond is reasonably related to the purposes of procurement and it is within the proper exercise of administrative judgment whether or not bid bonds are needed in a particular case. GAO did not agree that the IFB failed to notify bidders adequately that a bid bond was necessary. Accordingly, the protest was denied.