[Protest of Army Rejection of Bid as Nonresponsive]

A firm protested the rejection of its bid as nonresponsive under an Army solicitation issued as a small business set-aside. The Army rejected the bid because it failed to: (1) certify that a small business would manufacture the supplies; and (2) complete the solicitation's place of performance clause. The protester contended that its bid contained sufficient information, as submitted, to establish that it intended to furnish small business-manufactured supplies and that its failure to make the required entries was a clerical error which it should have been allowed to correct. GAO has held that a bidder is bound to use the supplier listed in the place of performance clause and a nonresponsive bid cannot be corrected after bid opening to make it responsive. Further, even if the clause had been completed, the result would not change because it did not bind the bidder to the use of that manufacturer and the failure to establish legal obligation made the bid nonresponsive. Accordingly, the protest was denied.