Protest Involving Fixed-Price Contract

B-196158: Jan 24, 1980

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A firm protested the award of a contract under a solicitation which requested fixed-price proposals to convert hardcopy data into machine readable magnetic tape format. The protester contended that its technically sound proposal offering the lowest price should not have been rejected. The request for proposals (RFP) informed offerors that award would be made to that responsible offeror whose offer conforming to the solicitation would be most advantageous to the Government, price and other factors considered. The RFP specifically reserved the procuring agency's right to accept other than the lowest offer and stated that, in evaluating proposals, cost would be of less importance than the combined technical and management evaluation factors. In its best and final offer, the protester offered two options. One of these was found unacceptable because it did not fulfill one of the solicitation requirements (Option B); the other, while conforming to the solicitation requirements, received the lowest technical evaluation score among the four competing proposals (Option A). The protester's major complaint was that the procuring agency rejected its Option B proposal without considering that it reflected a current state-of-the-art approach and that an aspect of the procedure specified in the RFP was unnecessary. The determination of the minimum needs of an agency and the methods of accommodating them are properly the responsibility of the procuring agency; any objection the protester had regarding the requirement should have been filed with the procuring agency prior to the closing date for receipt of proposals or revised proposals. With respect to its Option A proposal, the protester defended its technical competence, claimed valuable prior experience, and questioned how the awardee could have a stronger technical approach. It is not the function of GAO to evaluate the technical merits of proposals or to question the judgment of a procuring agency except where there is a clear showing that the agency was arbitrary, unreasonable, or inconsistent with with established evaluation factors. The record did not indicate that the procuring agency violated any of these standards in rejecting the protester's proposals. Accordingly, the protest was denied.

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