[Protest of IRS Rejection of Bid for Metal Storage Racks]

A firm protested the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) rejection of its bid for metal storage racks, contending that: (1) IRS mishandled its bid after receipt in the IRS mail room; (2) IRS did not provide sufficient time for proper preparation of bids; (3) the specifications were defective; and (4) the awardee's bid was unreasonable. GAO held that: (1) IRS properly rejected the protester's bid as late, since there was no evidence of government mishandling; (2) the protester improperly hand-carried its bid to the mailing address rather than to the specified address for hand-carried bids; (3) the protester untimely filed after bid opening its protest regarding alleged solicitation improprieties; and (4) the protester untimely filed its protest regarding the awardee's price more than 10 days after it learned of the basis for protest. Accordingly, the protest was denied in part and dismissed in part.