[Protest of FCC Contract Award]

A firm protested a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) contract award for the construction of a darkroom. Two timely bids were received which did not contain bid bonds required by the invitation for bids. The protester's bid was rejected as late and FCC awarded the contract to the low bidder. The protester contended that both timely bids should have been rejected as nonresponsive because they lacked the required bid bond. FCC contended that, since the two timely bids were under $25,000, it was justified in waiving the bid bond requirement under Federal Procurement Regulations. GAO has held that, where a bid guarantee is required as part of a bid, the failure to provide a guarantee renders the bid nonresponsive even if the bid is under $25,000. However, GAO has also held that, where all bids timely received are nonresponsive for the same reason and acceptance of the low nonresponsive bid would satisfy the Government's actual needs, the agency may accept the low bid notwithstanding that it was technically nonresponsive. GAO found that: (1) acceptance of the low nonresponsive bid would result in a contract which would satisfy the FCC requirements, since the bid took no exception to the work required under the solicitation; (2) the contractor was obligated to perform the contract as called for; (3) FCC determined that the bid bond was not necessary; and (4) the protester was not prejudiced by the award, since it did not submit a timely bid. Therefore, GAO found that this waiver of the bid bond requirement was proper. Accordingly, the protest was denied.