[Protest of Navy Contract Award for Technical Support Services]
Highlights
A firm protested a Navy contract award for technical support services, contending that: (1) the Navy engaged in technical levelling; (2) the Navy did not evaluate the proposals according to the evaluation criteria; and (3) the awardee's bid contained material misrepresentations. GAO found that: (1) the Navy properly conducted discussions to advise offerers of deficiencies in their bids and did not provide assistance to raise the level of an inferior bid; (2) the Navy reasonably decided that the slight technical advantage of the protester's bid did not warrant its much higher costs; and (3) the protester failed to show that the awardee misrepresented personnel availability by substituting personnel after award. Accordingly, the protest was denied.