Contentions of Underbidding and Buy American Provision Violations

The protester contended that the contract awardee did not know that an escalation clause would not be included in the contract and, thus, underbid the protester. It also alleged that the awardee was allowed to use foreign-made material in violation of Buy American Act provisions. All bidders had the same information available upon which to base the bid prices; the protester was not unfairly underbid. Since the awardee did not indicate that it offered anything other than domestic end products, it was bound by the Buy American provisions to comply with the solicitation. The geographical scope of the solicitation was apparent before bid opening, and protests alleging an improper geographical radius were untimely.