Protest concerning Evaluation of Proposals and Violation of Solicition Specifications

The protester alleged that the proposed award of a contract would violate the organizational conflict of interest provision in the request for proposals and that the agency improperly determined that competing proposals were technically equal. Although the protest with regard to the conflict of interest was timely, the determination as to the existence of the conflict of interest was a matter for the procuring activity and was not subject to review in these circumstances. The record indicated that the technical scores were very close; therefore, award on the basis of bid price was proper.