[Protest of Proposed NCI Contract Award for Computer System]

A firm protested a proposed National Cancer Institute (NCI) contract award for a computer system, contending that: (1) the proposed awardee's proposal did not comply with the solicitation specifications; (2) the proposed awardee did not comply with small business set-aside requirements; and (3) NCI improperly rescored its revised proposal and did not conduct meaningful discussions. GAO held that: (1) NCI properly found that the proposed awardee complied with the specifications, since it proposed modifications to an existing system; (2) the proposed awardee complied with the small business set-aside requirements, since it intended to subcontract less than 50 percent of its personnel costs; (3) NCI reasonably evaluated the protester's proposal, since its revisions weakened its original proposal; and (4) the protest against NCI failure to conduct discussions was without merit, since NCI sent questions to all bidders informing them of their proposal deficiencies. Accordingly, the protest was denied.