[Protest of GSA Rejection of Bid for Burlap Sand Bags]

A firm protested the General Services Administration's (GSA) rejection of its bid for sand bags, contending that: (1) an alteration in the testing procedure would have resulted in satisfactory results for its product; (2) since GSA planned to delete the test from future solicitations, it should have waived the requirement in the instant procurement to take advantage of the protester's low bid; and (3) the Small Business Administration (SBA) issued it a certificate of competency. GAO held that: (1) the protester untimely filed its protest against the test procedure after bid opening; (2) since the integrity of the competitive bidding system precluded a contract award based on specifications different from those under which GSA conducted the competition, GSA properly did not waive the test requirement; and (3) SBA revised its decision after GSA informed SBA that the test was a requirement. Accordingly, the protest was dismissed in part and denied in part.