Goode Construction, Inc.

A firm protested a United States Coast Guard contract award for replacement of a central steam plant with natural gas facilities, contending that the Coast Guard (1) improperly rejected the protester, a small business, as nonresponsible and failed to refer that determination to the Small Business Administration; and (2) unfairly evaluated the protester's past performance. GAO held that the Coast Guard properly (1) did not adjust the protester's proposal evaluation score upward because the protester did not adequately respond to the agency's request for additional information during discussions; and (2) determined technical process as different from responsibility because the award was based on a comparative evaluation of the relevant past performance of the awardee and protester. Accordingly, the protest was denied.