Awardee Not Required to Propose Indirect Overhead Costs When None Were Applicable to the Contract; COFC No. 16-1259C, IT Shows Inc. v. United States

Protest challenging the agency’s acceptance of the awardee’s proposal is denied, where the solicitation did not require offerors to propose indirect overhead costs if none were applicable, and therefore the awardee’s lack of proposed indirect overhead costs did not render its proposal nonresponsive; and protest challenging the agency’s cost realism analysis is denied, where the agency reasonably used the protester’s ceiling rates to make an upward adjustment to its proposed costs, because the difference between the protester’s provisional and ceiling rates was so significant, the agency considered the rates potentially unstable, which presented a risk of unexpected higher costs.