Protest Against Alleged Solicitation Improprieties

An incumbent contractor protested the award of an Army contract for storage and maintenance of equipment. The contractor asserted that: (1) certain integral items were left out of the solicitation; (2) it was deliberately misled by contracting officers who allegedly dismissed its questions about the terms of the solicitation as trivial; (3) its own employees were told before the contract was awarded that the awardee was assured of the contract and that the Army refused its offer to negotiate; (4) at the contracting officer's request, the protester made an oral modification of its best and final offer, which would have made its offer lower than the awardee's; (5) the contract was awarded after the contracting officer had notice of the protests and without compliance with applicable regulations; and (6) the award should have been made to the protester at a slightly higher price because of its allegedly superior experience. According to protest procedures, the objections to the solicitation should have been protested prior to the closing date for receipt of initial proposals. The allegation that the protester's question was arbitrarily dismissed was untimely, because it was filed more than 10 days after the basis of the protest was known. The allegations that the protester's employees had been informed of the contract award before the award was made and the Army's refusal to negotiate were unsupported by the record. Since the contracting officer denied that any oral modification of the protester's best and final offer had been made, GAO concluded that the protester failed to carry the burden of affirmatively proving its case. It held that even if the award was made after notice of the protest had been received, the validity of the award was not thereby affected. GAO held that since the contracting officer found the awardee to be a responsible firm and its offer to be acceptable, the award was made in accordance with the award provision of the solicitation which mandated award to the lowest, responsive, responsible offeror whose proposal is rated acceptable. Accordingly, the protest was dismissed in part and denied in part.