[Protest of Contract Award Under GSA Solicitation]

A firm protested a General Services Administration (GSA) contract award under an invitation for bids (IFB) for National Defense stockpile supplies. The protester contended that its bid should have been considered as offering a product originating in a designated country under the Trade Agreements Act, which would have entitled it to award. The protester also filed for injunctive relief with a U.S. district court, and the court requested a GAO opinion. The IFB required bidders to certify whether their products were from a designated country and to specify the originating country name. Since GSA had received a waiver from a prohibition to purchase the product from a nondesignated country, purchases were to be made from bids offering products from nondesignated countries if a sufficient quantity was not available from firms offering products from designated countries. Since none of the bidders offered products from designated countries, GSA offered the contract to the low bidder. The protester contended that it did offer materials from a designated country, but that an error caused GSA to interpret its bid otherwise. GAO found that the protester did offer to deliver its product from a designated country and that an error in its bid should have been waived as a minor informality. Accordingly, the protest was sustained. GAO recommended that GSA investigate the feasibility of terminating the contract award and awarding the contract to the protester.