Request for Reconsideration of Protest Denial

In its request for reconsideration a protester reinterated its contention that a bid offering a discount for prompt payment was not a firm bid and thus the discount should not be considered in the proposal evaluation. The protester was correct in that contracts awarded after formal advertising are to be of the firm fixed price type. However, this does not mean that in determining which bid is most advantageous to the Government, the contracting officer is restricted to a comparison of the gross prices offered by the bidders. The action taken by the contracting officer in this case was in accordance with the requirements of the procurement regulations and statutes as well as with the terms of the invitation for bids. The protest was untimely insofar as it concerned the propriety of the solicitation at issue and was otherwise without merit.