Allegation That Specifications Are Proprietary

A firm protested the award of a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) contract alleging that specifications were proprietary and that the awardee was being permitted to alter its product to deviate from the specifications, while the protester's alternate bid was not considered because it deviated from the specifications. GAO considered the protester's complaints untimely, because the protest was filed 13 days after bid opening; GAO Bid Protest Procedures require protests based on improprieties to be filed prior to the date of bid opening. GAO states that the alleged improprieties were apparent from the face of the solicitation. According to NOAA, the product met specifications in a pre-award inspection, and the awardee will not be altering the product. Since the protester did not dispute this, GAO assumed that the protester no longer maintains its allegation of permitted product modification. Even if the protester still maintains that allegation, the only evidence presented consists of contradictory assertions by the protester and the agency. Therefore, the protester failed to affirm its allegation, and the protest was denied.