Contradictory Technical And Cost Evaluations Don't Add Up

In Information Ventures, Inc. (Mar. 1, 2006, http://www.gao.gov/decisions/bidpro/2972762.pdf), GAO sustained the protest in part because the agency failed to reconcile the technical evaluation with the cost realism analysis. In this procurement, the agency supported the high technical scores awarded to the two offerors by finding that both offerors' technical proposals “contained more than adequate staff to accomplish tasks,” yet, at the same time, determined in the cost realism analysis that neither offeror had proposed sufficient staffing hours to perform the work.