[Protests of Air Force Contract Award for Global Transportation Network System]

Two firms protested an Air Force contract award for a global transportation network system, contending that the Air Force: (1) improperly evaluated the bids; (2) failed to conduct meaningful discussions; (3) performed a flawed cost realism analysis; and (4) made an unreasonable cost-technical tradeoff decision. GAO held that the Air Force: (1) reasonably evaluated the bids in accordance with the stated evaluation criteria; (2) was not required to conduct discussions regarding the bidders' proposed use of prototype software, since it advised the bidders of problems with the software before the solicitation was issued; (3) adequately pointed out deficiencies in the protesters' bids; (4) reasonably adjusted the protesters' bid prices during its cost realism analyses to estimate costs not provided for in the bids; and (5) reasonably determined that the awardee's technically superior bid outweighed the protesters' low cost bids. Accordingly, the protests were denied.