[Protest of Navy Rejection of Best and Final Offer as Late]

A firm protested the Navy's rejection of its best and final offer as late under a solicitation for a large-scale vehicle support barge, contending that: (1) it timely delivered its offer; (2) the Navy should award it the contract based on its low and technically acceptable offer; (3) the awardee's bid did not comply with the solicitation's requirements; and (4) the Navy engaged in technical levelling by providing its proprietary data to other offerers in a solicitation amendment. The protester requested reimbursement for its bid and protest preparation costs, and lost profits. The Navy contended that GAO should dismiss the protest since the protester failed to provide the contracting officer with a copy of its protest within 1 day of filing with GAO. GAO held that: (1) it would not dismiss the protest because of the protester's failure to timely file a protest with the contracting officer, since the Navy was aware of the bases of the protest at the time it was filed with GAO; (2) the Navy properly rejected the protester's offer as late since it untimely received the offer at the proper location; (3) the Navy found the protester's bid unacceptable after reevaluation and rejected it; (4) the protester's contention that the Navy incorporated its proprietary data in the solicitation's amendment was untimely filed after bid opening; and (5) it would not consider the contention that the awardee's bid did not comply with the solicitation requirements since the protester was not an interested party. Accordingly, the protest was denied in part and dismissed in part, and the claim was denied.