Link: GAO Opinion
Agency: Department of the Air Force
Disposition: Protest denied.
Keywords: Incumbent status; Price realism
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The protest of alleged improprieties that were apparent on the face of a task order solicitation, when filed after the issuance of the task order, was dismissed as untimely under GAO’s Bid Protest Regulations. The protest that the Air Force unreasonably evaluated the competitors’ proposals, based primarily on the Air Force’s alleged failure to sufficiently credit the protestor’s incumbent status and advantages, was denied where the record showed that the Air Force’s evaluation was reasonable and in accordance with the stated criteria. Any alleged misrepresentations made by the awardee of a task order are not to be considered material when the agency does not rely upon them. The nature and extent of an agency’s price realism analysis of proposals responding to a fixed-price task order solicitation are matters within the reasonable exercise of the agency’s discretion.