A carrier protested the award of a contract alleging that the awardee's bid was noncompensatory and should have been rejected as nonresponsive. The protester contended that the awardee would have to reduce services to the Government in order to meet its bid price. This was tantamount to an assertion that the awardee submitted a below-cost bid. GAO held that the mere fact that a bidder may have su...

NO LEGAL BASIS EXISTS TO PRECLUDE CONTRACT AWARD MERELY BECAUSE LOW BIDDER MAY HAVE SUBMITTED BELOW COST BID. 2. WHETHER BIDDER SUBMITTING BELOW COST BID CAN PERFORM CONTRACT IN CONFORMANCE WITH SPECIFICATIONS IS MATTER OF BIDDER RESPONSIBILITY AND NOT FOR CONSIDERATION BY OUR OFFICE EXCEPT IN CIRCUMSTANCES NOT PRESENT HERE. WARD CLAIMS THAT GORDON'S BID WAS "NON-COMPENSATORY" AND SHOULD BE REJECT...