Protest of Best and Final Offer Being Rejected for Lateness

Two firms, the Public Advertising Council (PAC) and Ads Audio Visual Productions, Inc. (Ads), protested the award of a contract by the Office of Education (OE) for the development of radio public service announcements on consumer education. PAC, protesting the agency's determination that its best and final offer was late, contended that its offer was delivered to the agency's offices in a room where documents had previously been accepted and forwarded to the contracting officer. PAC maintained that the late receipt of its best and final offer was due to Government mishandling and not due to any fault of the firm. GAO disagreed. Since the envelope did not indicate its contents and was not delivered to the specified location, the lateness was not due solely to Government mishandling. The return of the envelope unopened by OE was consistent with regulations. Ads protested that the request for proposal was designed for a broadcast production company rather than for an advertising agency; however, since this issue was first raised 3 months after filing of the protest and almost 4 months after the basis of protest became known, it was considered untimely. Allegations concerning the competency of the evaluation team did not meet the protester's burden of proof. The protests of both firms were denied.