[Protest of DLA Bid Rejection]

A firm protested the Defense Logistics Agency's (DLA) rejection of its bid as nonresponsive under a small business set-aside because it failed to indicate that all supplies to be furnished would be manufactured in the United States. The protester failed to complete the representation because it felt that the specification was ambiguous and that its failure to complete it should be waived as a minor informality. GAO has held that the failure of a small business to establish this legal obligation renders a bid nonresponsive, and it must be rejected. Furthermore, the responsiveness of the bid must be determined from the material available at bid opening, and postopening corrections cannot be considered to make a nonresponsive bid responsive. Since the protester's intent could not clearly be determined from the face of the bid, GAO found that the contracting officer properly rejected the bid as nonresponsive. Accordingly, the protest was dismissed. However, because a number of protesters have alleged that they submitted nonresponsive bids through the misinterpretation of the clause in question, GAO suggested review and consideration of changes to the Federal Acquisitions Regulations Secretariat and to the Administrator, Small Business Administration.