[Protest of Contract Award by DOE Prime Contractor for Exploratory Drilling]

A firm protested a Department of Energy operating contractor's award of a contract for exploratory drilling, contending that: (1) it was entitled to proposal preparation costs since the award was improper because the contractor did not follow the solicitation's technical criteria or properly establish the competition; (2) an amendment to its proposal was rejected; and (3) it tried unsuccessfully to schedule a debriefing with the contractor. GAO has held that protests must be filed within 10 days after the basis for the protest is known to be considered timely. GAO found that the protester did not formally request debriefing until 2 months after award and did not protest to GAO until 7 months after award. Accordingly, the protest was dismissed as untimely and, since GAO did not consider the protest on the merits, it did not consider the claim for the proposal preparation costs.