The government official reviewing a controversial National Institute of Education (NIE) contract with the Graduate School of Education said this week he has reached a preliminary decision, but refused to say what his decision was.

The General Accounting Office (GAO) is reviewing a staff attorney's recommendation and will make a final judgement on the dispute as early as next week. GAO officials said.

In September, Bank Street College in New York protested a $7.7 million NIE award for the Ed School to develop a School Technology Center which would study how to use computers in teaching math and science in primary and secondary schools.

The protest was handled by GAO attorney Vincent Knox, who said Wednesday that he had finished his report "very recently." His investigation is now being reviewed within the GAO.

Knox refused to discuss his report. He said it was possible that the GAO may alter or even reverse his recommendation in the final decision.

Bank Street protested the award because their bid for the contract was nearly $3 million less than Harvard's. The University claims that the NIE director violated selection procedure by overruling a review committee's recommendation that gave the contract to Bank Street.

The case has been complicated by allegations that Rep Silvio O Conte (R Mass.) applied political pressure to get Harvard the contract.

Conte, who represents a district in the western part of the state, has denied the charges, pointing out that the University is far from his district However, after the award was announced, the Ware school system, which is in Conte's district, was added to the plan.