[Protest of Fish and Wildlife Service Cancellation of IFB for Corral System]

A firm protested the Fish and Wildlife Service's (FWS) decision to cancel a solicitation for construction of a corral system and resolicit with revised specifications, contending that: (1) the specifications in the original solicitation adequately described the required work; and (2) the revised specifications would not meet the agency's actual needs. GAO noted that, at bid opening, FWS determined that a special experience solicitation requirement was not necessary to meet its needs and, since only one of the five bidders was eligible for award, the solicitation should be cancelled and resolicited. GAO found that: (1) the special experience requirement was not necessary to ensure that the firms competing for the contract were qualified to perform the required work; (2) the requirement had a significant adverse effect on competition since four of the five bidders, including the low bidder, did not satisfy the requirement; (3) FWS had a compelling reason to cancel the solicitation based on its determination that bidders were unreasonably excluded from competition; and (4) FWS properly cancelled the solicitation in order to eliminate the special experience requirement and obtain full and open competition. Accordingly, the protest was denied.