[Protest of FBI Contract Award for Construction Services]

A firm protested a Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) contract award for construction services. The protester, who had tied with the awardee as the apparent low bidder, contended that the awardee broke the tie by correcting its bid by using information that was not submitted with its bid to correct a bid error. Procurement regulations provide that a bidder may be permitted to correct a mistake only if evidence of the bid error can be ascertained from the solicitation and the bid itself. GAO found that the evidence of the intended bid was ambiguous; therefore, correction of the bid downward was improper. Since the protester and the awardee tied, GAO recommended that the award be redetermined by lot and, if the protester wins, the contract should be terminated for the convenience of the government and awarded to the protester. In addition, the agency must suspend performance of the contract until the protest is resolved. If FBI fails to adopt this recommendation, GAO held that the protester is entitled to the costs of pursuing the protest and the costs of preparing its bid. Accordingly, the protest was sustained.