[Protest of Army Decision To Restrict Competition to Small Businesses]

A firm protested two Army small business set-aside solicitations for concrete mattress casting, contending that the Army erroneously determined that it would receive bids from at least two responsible small businesses. The firm also contended that, in the case of the second solicitation, if the Army had not set aside the procurement, it would have received lower bids. GAO held that: (1) the Army reasonably determined that a sufficient number of responsible small businesses would compete, based on a survey of potential bidders; and (2) the protester failed to show that the small business bids in prior set-aside procurements were unreasonably high. Accordingly, the protest against the first solicitation was denied, and the protest against the second solicitation was dismissed.