[Decision Concerning Soil Conservation Service Contract Award for Pipeline]

The Department of Agriculture's Soil Conservation Service (SCS) requested a decision regarding the propriety of awarding a contract for pipeline construction to a firm whose bid it had originally determined to be nonresponsive, since the bidder failed to bid on all items. Another bidder filed a protest with GAO, contending that the low bid was nonresponsive, since the bid bond had expired. GAO held that the low bid was responsive, since: (1) it contained a total bid amount; (2) the solicitation did not explicitly require quotes on all line items; and (3) the bid contained a clause automatically extending the bid bond. Accordingly, the protest was denied.