[Complaint Against EPA Contract Award]

A firm requested review of an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) decision regarding the award of a contract by an EPA grantee for a wastewater treatment project. The firm's low bid was rejected as nonresponsive and its protest was denied both by the grantee and by EPA. The protest stated that the bid could not be rejected as nonresponsive because the affirmative action requirements imposed on the bidders was a matter of bidder responsibility. However, GAO held that when affirmative action requirements are imposed on a bidder as a matter of contract performance, a specific commitment to them must be reflected in the bid, and such requirements may be properly treated as involving responsiveness rather than responsibility. Furthermore, the solicitation provided that a bidder could qualify for a waiver of the minority business enterprise utilization goal by providing a narrative of the positive efforts it had taken to encourage utilization of minority business and an explanation of why the goal could not be met. The low bidder neither committed itself to the goal nor provided a narrative, while the second bidder unequivocally offered to meet the goal at a reasonable price. The grantee correctly presumed that the low bidder did not make sufficient efforts and properly rejected the bid. Accordingly, the complaint was denied.