Protest against Cancellation of Solicitation

A company protested cancellation of a solicitation, alleging that public notice of award prior to the decision to cancel resulted in a binding contract, and sought reimbursement for bid preparation expenses. Since the solicitation was cancelled before an award document was executed, a formal contract never arose. The claim for bid preparation costs was denied because there was no evidence of arbitrary or capricious action toward the claimant. The solicitation did not have to be cancelled completely since the portion not cancelled contained no inadequacies and there was no compelling reason for complete cancellation. The agency determination subsequent to cancellation to have a portion of originally solicited work done in-house is a matter of executive policy and, since the agency's needs have changed since cancellation, the solicitation cannot be reinstated.