[Protest of Bid Rejection Under VA Solicitation for Biohazard Hoods]

A firm protested the Veterans Administration's (VA) rejection of its late bid under a solicitation for biohazard hoods, contending that: (1) since VA instructed offerers to mail their bids to a post office box, it should have made a greater effort to timely pick up its mail; (2) VA gave the awardee's offer preferential treatment because the awardee mailed the bid directly to the VA office; and (3) the awardee's bid was nonresponsive because it did not comply with a solicitation specification. GAO found that: (1) the portion of the protest concerning the use of a post office box was untimely filed because it concerned the solicitation specifications and GAO did not receive it before bid opening; (2) the protester's bid was delivered to the post office box after bid opening; (3) the awardee hand carried its bid, as the solicitation allowed; and (4) the protester was not sufficiently interested to protest the responsiveness of the awardee's bid. Accordingly, the protest was denied in part and dismissed in part.