[Protest of INS Contract Award for Food Services]

A firm protested an Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) contract award for food services, contending that INS: (1) did not consistently apply the solicitation's evaluation criteria; and (2) made award to a lower-rated bidder. GAO held that INS: (1) evaluated proposals consistently with the stated evaluation criteria; and (2) reasonably made award to a lower-priced, lower-rated bidder because INS determined that there was no significant technical difference between the proposals and that award to the low bidder was most advantageous to the government. Accordingly, the protest was denied.