[Protest of Agriculture Contract Award]

B-209419: Feb 14, 1983

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A firm protested a Department of Agriculture (USDA) contract award under a solicitation for a blood cell counter. USDA stated that the protester's bid was rejected because it did not meet the technical specifications required in the invitation for bids (IFB). The protester maintained that its product was equal to or better than that of the awardee and that its bid and product met the stated salient characteristics identified in the IFB. In addition, the protester argued that the solicitation was lacking in its identification of essential specification details, that the solicitation included obscure specifications, that the technical evaluation of its bid was erroneous, and that the contract which USDA awarded because of urgency should have been suspended during the pendency of the protest. To the extent that part of the protest was based upon alleged ambiguities or improprieties in the specification, it was untimely since it was filed after bid opening; protests based upon alleged solicitation improprieties apparent prior to bid opening must be filed prior to that date. GAO found that the protester did provide sufficient descriptive material to allow USDA to make a technical evaluation of the bid as nonresponsive, because the protester's literature was susceptible to conflicting interpretations, one of which was nonresponsive to the solicitation. Under such circumstances, GAO has held that where a bid is subject to two interpretations, it must be rejected as nonresponsive. In addition, GAO found that the protester did not meet its burden of proof regarding its allegation that the rejection of its bid was based upon bias. In view of the above, the protester was not prejudiced by the failure of USDA to suspend performance of the contract. Accordingly, the protest was dismissed in part and denied in part.

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