[Protest of DESC Cancellation of IFB for Five Stepladder Quantities of Electrical Headset]

A firm protested the Defense Logistics Agency's (DLA) cancellation of a solicitation for stepladder quantities of an electrical headset, contending that: (1) DLA improperly cancelled the solicitation, since anticipated competition was not sufficient reason for cancelling a negotiated procurement; (2) DLA improperly determined that its unit price was unreasonable solely in response to its protest; (3) DLA improperly exposed its bid prices, which would give the competition an unfair advantage under the resolicitation; and (4) the only other bidder was not legally qualified to be on the qualified products list. DLA contended that the protest was untimely filed. GAO held that: (1) DLA properly cancelled the solicitation since there was only one bidder and it believed resolicitation would result in additional competition; (2) it would not consider the issue of price reasonableness, absent evidence of fraud or bad faith; and (3) a bidder whose sole bid was rejected as unreasonable was not prejudiced by the exposure of its bid prices where the bidder was able to bid on the resolicitation; (4) DLA properly retained the other bidder on the qualified products list, since removal would have created a sole-source situation for the protester; and (5) the protester properly filed its protest within 10 days after the cancellation of negotiations. Accordingly, the protest was denied.