[Protest of Corps of Engineers Rejection of Bid To Furnish Water Pumps]

A firm protested the Army Corps of Engineers' rejection of its bid as nonresponsive and contended that the Corps improperly resolicited the requirement before its protest was resolved. The protester contended that the Corps acted arbitrarily because it based bid evaluation calculations on incorrect measurements. GAO found that the invitation for bids (IFB) was not defective and, therefore, the Corps could have made award under the IFB. GAO found that the protester was correct in its contention that the Corps improperly based its evaluation on incorrect measurements. Therefore, the responsiveness of the protester's bid should have been judged against the standards of the solicitation. Since the Corps failed to identify the descriptive literature required by the IFB, failure to furnish such information did not prevent acceptance of the bid where the bidder would otherwise be bound to perform in accordance with the IFB. Therefore, GAO found that the protester's bid was responsive and should have been accepted. GAO held that, if otherwise appropriate, the Corps should cancel its resolicitation of the requirement and make award to the low responsive, responsible bidder under the original solicitation without regard to the descriptive literature submitted. Accordingly, the protest was sustained.