Beacon Auto Parts

A firm protested a General Services Administration (GSA) contract award for the maintenance, repair, and overhaul of GSA-owned vehicles assigned to Fort Polk, Louisiana, contending that (1) the agency improperly evaluated its proposal and (2) the agency did not consider price in selecting the awardee's higher-priced proposal. GAO held that GSA's evaluation of the protester's proposal is unobjectionable where the protester has no basis for questioning the evaluation, and the record shows that GSA failed to consider whether the awardee's higher-rated proposal was worth its higher price. Accordingly, the protest was denied in part and sustained in part. GAO recommended that GSA perform a cost/technical tradeoff in accordance with the terms of the solicitation and that GSA reimburse the protester the reasonable costs of filing and pursuing its protest, including reasonable attorney's fees.