Protest Over Bid Being Declared Nonresponsive

A protester contended that the contracting officer misconducted an award clause of the invitation for bids (IFB) and that the award to a competitor was erroneous because the protester was the low bidder. In response, the certifying officer and the awardee claimed that the protest was untimely, the bid was nonresponsive, and the award clause was properly construed. The protester inadvertently failed to cross out its original bid under the effects of IFB amendments which deleted the proceedings attendance fee item and thereby rendered the bid nonresponsive. Since the protester's bid was properly rejected as nonresponsive, it was not necessary to consider the protester's contention that the award clause was misconstrued by the contracting officer.