[Protest of Army Rejection of Bid as Nonresponsive]

A firm protested the Army's rejection of its bid for fertilizing, seeding, and mulching as nonresponsive, contending that the Army improperly determined that its bid was ambiguous. GAO held that the Army improperly rejected the bid, since: (1) it offered unequivocally firm prices which bound the protester to the contract's terms; (2) the protester's offered discount for an option year did not constitute a bid qualification or a deviation from the solicitation's requirement for a firm price offer; and (3) the discount reduced, not increased, the bid price. Accordingly, the protest was sustained, and GAO recommended that the Army terminate the awarded contract and make award to the protester.