[Protest of Bid Rejection Under DISC Solicitation for Carbon Steel]

A firm protested the Defense Industrial Supply Center's rejection of its bid for carbon steel as nonresponsive, contending that: (1) the name of its supplier was competition-sensitive information and should not have been disclosed to other bidders; and (2) its statement that the identity of its supplier was privileged did not make its bid nonresponsive since it had previously been awarded contracts even though it withheld the identity of the manufacturing facility in its bid. GAO has held that: (1) protests based on alleged improprieties in a solicitation which are apparent prior to bid opening must be filed prior to that date to be considered timely; and (2) previous improper awards do not justify repetition of the same error in subsequent procurements. GAO found that the fact that the agency released the name of the manufacturer to a competitor did not negate the fact that the solicitation required that no restriction be placed on the manufacturer's identity. Accordingly, the protest was dismissed.