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[Protest of Sale of Naval Petroleum Reserve Crude Oil]

B-217283,B-217283.2,B-217283.3 Published: Mar 14, 1985. Publicly Released: Mar 14, 1985.
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Highlights

Three firms protested the Department of Energy's (DOE) sale of crude oil from a petroleum reserve, contending that DOE improperly awarded the oil sale to a firm which was not a small refiner. GAO held that DOE properly relied on its subregion's certification of the awardee which had been made on an earlier DOE contract. Further, DOE waited the required 10-day period for the Small Business Administration (SBA) to make a size determination and, since no determination was forthcoming, DOE properly assumed that the awardee satisfied small refiner criteria. GAO noted that the eventual SBA ruling, although it found that the awardee was not a small refiner, was prospective and only affected future procurements. GAO also noted that terminating the contract would have significantly disrupted the commitments of other bidders. Accordingly, the protest was denied.

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Bidder eligibilityEvaluation protestsFederal procurementSales contractsCrude oilStrategic petroleum reservesBiddersEnergySmall businessIntellectual property rightsFederal regulations