Protest of Non-Set-Aside Contract Award

A firm protested the Defense Logistics Agency's (DLA) award of the non-set-aside portion of a contract to another company. The solicitation, which was divided into set-aside and non-set-aside portions, was for gate valves and included a 100-percent option quantity which was evaluated because DLA determined that it would exercise the option at the time of award. The protester was the low bidder for the base and option quantities in the non-set-aside portion of the solicitation. However, with respect to the option quantity, the protester stated that it would increase its unit price by 1 percent on each 31st day after bid opening. DLA requested that the protester extend its option price for another 30 days, which the protester agreed to do. However, the evaluation of the protester's solicitation did not consider the extension of the option price. The solicitation requested that each bid be kept open for the standard 60-calendar-day acceptance period. The protester complied with the request for the base quantity, but limited the acceptance period for the option quantity to the 30 days in its original bid. DLA determined that acceptance of the protester's extension would be improper as a prohibited post-bid-opening bid modification. GAO determined that the fact that the request was made and the extension was received was of no consequence. If the protester had been allowed to modify its bid, it would have been tantamount to having permitted it to submit a second bid after bid opening, which is contrary to competitive bidding principles. Accordingly, the protest was denied.