[Protest of Contract Award]

A firm protested the award of a Veterans Administration contract for ambulance services to either of the two low bidders under the solicitation. The protester contended that neither bidder qualified as a small business concern. In addition, it contended that neither bidder submitted the proper information concerning the vehicles they proposed to furnish, the location from which the vehicles would be dispatched, or the type of mileage meters which they proposed to use. GAO stated that it is the duty of the Small Business Administration to determine whether or not a concern is a small business for the purposes of a particular procurement, and its determination is conclusive in such matters. The other allegations of the protester relate to bidder responsibility. Since bidder responsibility is a matter for decision by the contracting officer, GAO will not review a protest of an affirmative determination of responsibility absent a showing of fraud or bad faith on the part of procuring officials or that definitive responsibility criteria have not been applied. Because neither exception was applicable in this case, the protest was dismissed.