Protest Against Award of Lease of Space

A company protested the award of a lease of space for a computer center to Charles Jones, contending that the award was improper and illegal because of improper evaluation, erroneous calculations, and arbitrary and capricious agency actions. Award was not improper in spite of certain errors in evaluation, since: (1) the relative price positions of offerors was not affected; (2) failure to evaluate the protester's alternate offer of additional space at a reduced rate was not improper since the space may never be used; (3) failure to evaluate factors other than price per square foot was not contrary to stated evaluation criteria; (4) an agency regulatory requirement that certain leases be approved by officials above the level of contracting officer did not require cancellation since the requirement was for the protection of the government rather than offerors; and (5) lease of space in other than the protester's building currently leased by the government was not invalid since the regulation limiting leasing authority to situations where needs cannot be satisfactorily met in government-controlled space did not apply in this situation.