Protest of Contract Award

A firm protested the award of a contract under a request for proposals (RFP) issued by the Economics and Statistics Service. The RFP sought a contract to give the agency access to computerized information systems capable of providing detailed forecasts of certain economic variables. The protester complained that the agency changed the evaluating procedures after proposals were received and unreasonably concluded that the protester's model did not forecast as accurately as the awardee's model did. The protester, which initially filed a protest with the agency, cited the contracting officer's letter denying the protest as suggesting that the agency changed the evaluation criteria after proposals were submitted. The record did not indicate any instance where the agency deviated from the evaluation criteria listed in the RFP. The contracting officer simply changed his original instructions as to the composition of the evaluation panel, including the number of members to review each part of the proposal. The decision as to how many and which members of an evaluation panel will review each proposal, as well as the choice of evaluators, is within the discretion of the contracting agency. It is not the function of GAO to make determinations as to the acceptability or relative merits of technical proposals. Those determinations are the responsibility of the contracting agency, and procuring officials thus enjoy a reasonable degree of discretion in evaluating proposals. GAO will not disturb an agency judgment unless it is shown to be arbitrary or in violation of procurement statutes or regulations. The protester, which had the burden to prove its case, failed to show that the agency's evaluation was unreasonable. Accordingly, the protest was denied.