Protest Against Proposal Rejection

A firm protested the rejection of its proposal as technically unacceptable under a request for proposals (RFP) issued as a total small business set-aside. The protester contended that it had unique knowledge and experience to qualify for the job and that the Air Force's erroneous technical evaluation prevented the agency from accepting its lower proposal price. It asked that its proposal be reevaluated as technically acceptable. Of four proposals received, only one was deemed acceptable. Those of two other firms were determined to be marginal and negotiations were held with them and the awardee. An unsuccessful offeror protested that there appeared to be a significant disparity between the scope of the RFP statement of work and the work the agency desired and asked for an award cancellation and resolicitation. Another unsuccessful offeror questioned the awardee's status as a small business, its competitive advantage as the incumbent contractor, and its lack of security clearances. The Small Business Administration confirmed that the awardee firm was a small business and a responsible offeror, and the agency assured the protester that the awardee could obtain the proper security clearances. The issues raised by the latter two unsuccessful offerors were not considered by GAO on their merits as they concerned matters which were untimely presented for consideration or not for GAO's review. In discussing the first protest, the agency took the position that the firm's qualifications were not adequately addressed in its proposal to reflect the firm's capability to fulfil the agency's needs. The deficiencies in the protester's proposal were so great that the agency felt the proposal would have to be completely rewritten in order to be properly evaluated. The determination as to the technical acceptability of a proposal is one within the discretion of the procuring agency which GAO will not disturb unless it is clearly shown to be unreasonable. GAO found that the agency had a reasonable basis for regarding the proposal as technically unacceptable. The fact that the proposal was excluded from consideration for award notwithstanding its lower price was irrelevant. Accordingly, the first protest was denied, and the second two protests were dismissed.