Decision That Solicitation Was Unduly Restrictive Not For Reconsideration

American Laundry Machinery Industries requested a reconsideration of a decision that the bid specifications of the Veterans Administration (VA) for a shelless laundry wash system to be installed at the consolidated laundry of the VA Hospital in Salisbury, North Carolina, were unduly restrictive of competition. A decision made on September 25, 1978, held that an automated washer/extractor system would have satisfied the Government's minimum needs, and VA specifications which permitted only a shelless system were unduly restrictive. This reversed a decision made in this case on September 15, 1976. American contended that the 1978 decision was based on an error, since the automated washer/extractor system was not an automated system, but was a monorail sling loading and unloading arrangement with conventional pass through washer/extractors. The September 25, 1978, decision was affirmed, however, since it did not contain any error of fact or law as claimed by American.