Protest Against Contract Award

A firm protested the award of a contract by the Department of Labor to provide litigation support microfilming services. The protester alleged that Labor improperly evaluated the awardee's technical proposal, conducted negotiations which prejudiced the protester, and used a technical evaluation panel composed of unqualified personnel. The protester also stated that the awardee was not capable of performing the contract satisfactorily and asked that GAO monitor the awardee's performance under the contract. The protester failed to show that the scores awarded in evaluating the various aspects of the awardee's proposal were unfair, and GAO will ordinarily accept a procuring activity's proposal evaluation unless it is clearly shown to be unreasonable. The record did not support the allegation that Labor prejudiced the protester during contract negotiations. The only portion of the protester's proposal disclosed during negotiations was an alternative pricing proposal which did not follow the scheme of the request for proposals. The claim that the members of the technical evaluation panel were unqualified was not considered since GAO does not review the composition of such panels in the absence of allegations of fraud, bad faith, or conflict of interest. The protester's request that GAO monitor the awardee's performance under the contract was not considered since contract administration is outside the scope of the GAO bid protest function. Accordingly, the protest was denied.