Assertion That Pricing and Evaluation Format of IFB Placed Undue Risk on Bidders

The protester to a contract award alleged that there were statutory and regulatory violations in the solicitation and that undue risk was placed on bidders because of the pricing and evaluation format of the solicitation and the use of what was perceived as a personal services contract. The protest was denied because: the use of "award amount" provisions was proper where the necessary deviation was obtained, allegations of violations without meaningful explanations were without merit, the risk involved in the pricing structure did not make the solicitation improper since bidders were expected to take this into account, and the contract was not a personal services contract since there was not direct Federal supervision of contractor personnel. The agency should consider experimental aspects of contract structure that result in awards that do not represent lowest costs when evaluating results achieved.