[Protest of NOAA Contract Award for Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler]

A firm protested a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) contract award for a computer system, alleging that NOAA: (1) did not follow the stated criteria in its technical evaluation; and (2) improperly awarded the contract to a higher-priced offerer. GAO noted that NOAA determined that the protester lacked the required software capabilities and failed to identify its software development costs in its cost breakdown. GAO held that NOAA: (1) reasonably determined that the protester's proposal was technically weak; (2) properly made award to a higher-priced, higher-rated offerer in accordance with its evaluation criteria; and (3) properly downgraded the protester's proposal because it did not specify software development costs and did not indicate that the protester intended to absorb such costs. Accordingly, the protest was denied.