[Protest of Bid Rejection for Failure To Acknowledge Amendment]

A firm protested the Air Force's rejection of its bid for failure to acknowledge an amendment to an invitation for bids which added a contract provision requiring the contractor to furnish utility connections at its own expense. The protester contended that it failed to acknowledge the amendment because it was never received and argued that it should not be penalized by the Government's alleged failure to properly transmit the amendment. GAO has held that, if a bidder does not receive and acknowledge a material amendment, and there is no evidence that this failure is the result of a conscious or deliberate effort on the part of the contracting agency to exclude the bidder from competition, the bid must be rejected as nonresponsive. GAO found no evidence of any conscious or deliberate effort on the part of the Air Force to exclude the protester from competing. Therefore, the protester's failure to acknowledge the amendment, even though it was never received, rendered its bid nonresponsive. After bid opening, the protester requested that its failure to acknowledge the amendment be waived as a minor informality. The agency responded that it would not grant the waiver because the amendment affected the contract price. The protester alleged that the costs involved were recognized in its original bid; therefore, there was no need to acknowledge the amendment. However, GAO held that, even if the protester considered the requirements of the amendment in preparing its bid, it still would have had to formally acknowledge the amendment. Accordingly, the protest was denied.