The CH2M Hill Cos.-led team that was short-listed, but not chosen, for an estimated $2-billion contract to support U.S. Antarctica research has protested the National Science Foundation's selection process. Agency officials did not respond to requests to determine how or whether the protest to the U.S. Government Accountability Office will delay the execution and transition of the contract by April 1 to the apparent winner, Lockheed Martin Corp. GAO has until April 18 to rule on the protest merits, says an agency official.