Protest of Navy Rejection of Proposal To Provide ADP Equipment

The protester's proposal to provide automatic data processing equipment to the procuring agency was determined technically unacceptable because the protester failed to supply technical literature deemed necessary to consideration of its proposal and for which the procuring agency made several requests during oral negotiations. In addition, the protester directed the procuring agency to examine equipment identical to that referred to in its offer; however, the equipment bore different model numbers and the protester failed to produce either the names of supervisory personnel under whom the equipment was operated or an explanation of the discrepancy in model numbers. The protester contended that it supplied sufficient technical information for consideration of its offer, that oral requests for additional information were not sufficient, and that it was not offered an opportunity to submit a "best and final" offer. It was held that there is nothing wrong with oral discussions if they are sufficent to alert an offeror to deficiencies in its proposal; that the procuring agency's determination that it was supplied inadequate literature to identify and evaluate the product was not unreasonable; and that the procuring agency's denial of a "best and final" offer was proper since an offer which is not technically acceptable may be eliminated from the competitive range without further discussions and without any request for a "best and final" offer. Therefore, the protest was denied.