Protest of DLA Contract Awards

A firm protested the award of six contracts and the possible award of another contract under seven requests for proposals (RFP) issued by the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) for supplying certain types of special purpose electrical cable. The protester contended that it should have received the awards under all seven RFP's because it had proposed lower priced items which were functionally equivalent to the awardee's items. Regarding the six awards, GAO found no indication in the record establishing that the protester's items should have been considered as functionally equivalent to the awardee's when urgent needs required that award be made to the only known source of supply, the awardee. Regarding the pending procurement, GAO noted that a great deal of effort by the protester and DLA has been expended to determine the acceptability of the protester's item, and GAO urged DLA to withhold the pending award until the acceptability determination has been was made. GAO concluded that its consideration of the functional equality of the protester's item, prior to a rejection from DLA, would be premature. Accordingly, the protest was denied in part and dismissed in part.