B-225509: Apr 7, 1987

A firm protested a General Services Administration (GSA) contract award for heavy-duty paper plates, contending that: (1) the awardee's product could not conform to solicitation specifications; (2) the awardee's submission of a below-cost offer indicated that it would be unable to perform satisfactorily; (3) GSA either failed to ascertain the awardee's responsibility or made its finding in bad fai...

B-225509: Apr 7, 1987

ALLEGATION THAT AWARDEE'S "BID" WAS "NONRESPONSIVE" TO SOLICITATION SPECIFICATIONS IS WITHOUT MERIT NOT ONLY BECAUSE PROCUREMENT WAS CONDUCTED BY NEGOTIATION AND NOT THROUGH SEALED BIDDING. PROTEST IS DIRECTED MORE TO THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE OFFEROR THAN TO THE "RESPONSIVENESS" OR TECHNICAL ACCEPTABILITY OF ITS OFFER. THE SUBMISSION OF A BELOW-COST OFFER ON A FIRM-FIXED-PRICE CONTRACT IS LEGALLY...