[Protest of GSA Contract Award for Replacement of PCB-Contaminated Transformers]

A firm protested the General Services Administration's (GSA) rejection of its bid as nonresponsive and subsequent contract award to another firm for the replacement of contaminated transformers and oil switches, contending that: (1) GSA should have awarded it the contract as the low bidder, since its acknowledgment of a solicitation amendment after bid opening, but prior to award, was sufficient to correct the bid's nonresponsiveness; (2) GSA was negligent in failing to provide it with a copy of the amendment; (3) GSA should have waived its failure to acknowledge receipt of the amendment as a minor informality or irregularity, since the revised wage rate determination had no monetary effect on the cost of contract performance; and (4) GSA should reimburse it for its lost profits and for its bid and protest preparation costs. GAO held that: (1) GSA properly rejected the bid as nonresponsive since the protester failed to acknowledge the solicitation amendment prior to bid opening; (2) the protester's failure to acknowledge the amendment or correct its bid was not waiveable, since it failed to show that GSA deliberately or consciously attempted to exclude it from the competition; (3) GSA could not waive the protester's failure to acknowledge receipt of the amendment since it contained revised Davis-Bacon Act wage rate determinations; and (4) the protester was not entitled to the recovery of lost profits since such action was not permitted under any circumstances, or to recovery of bid protest and preparation costs, since the protest was without merit. Accordingly, the protest was denied.