Protest Alleging Written Proposal Was Improperly Evaluated

A company protested an award, contending that it was unfairly permitted to "overquote" the inclusion of equipment in its proposal which was not required by the procuring agency, and that its written proposal was misevaluated because the agency did not subtract from the rental quote the amount attributed to the "overquoted" equipment, nor did it credit the company with the proper 11 percent discount. The agency held that (1) the protester's dictaphone system needed equipment to perform the same functions as the awardee's system, and (2) after the 11 percent discount was taken into consideration, the price should be less than the awardee's. GAO, however, found that the extra equipment was required for equivalent performance. Since the agency admitted that it did not credit the 11 percent discount to the company and price comparisons of functionally comparable systems must be on an equal basis, it was established that the protester's bid was lower than the awardee's. The protest was sustained.