Solicitation Provided for Consideration of Price as an Issue of Responsibility, but Did Not Allow Agency to Conduct Full Realism Evaluation; GAO B-414430, IR Technologies

Protest alleging the agency failed to conduct an adequate price realism evaluation is denied, where it was untimely filed and where the solicitation provided the agency would consider price only as an issue of responsibility, which the protester did not challenge; and protest challenging the agency’s evaluation of the awardee’s staffing proposal is denied, where the awardee clearly stated it would provide three operations research analysts, but with lower total annual hours than estimated by the agency; and protest the agency improperly conducted discussions with only the awardee is denied, where the agency’s communications amounted to clarifications and where the protester was not prejudiced because its technical proposal was evaluated as acceptable and its pricing was not considered too high.