[Protest of DLA Award of Contracts to Any Other Firm]

A firm protested contract awards to any other firm under five Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) solicitations, contending that: (1) DLA improperly referred the matter of its responsibility to the Small Business Administration (SBA); (2) SBA was delaying its decision as to whether to issue a Certificate of Competency (COC) for the protester in order to consider factually incorrect DLA reports; and (3) SBA was not independently considering each of its COC applications. GAO held that: (1) SBA has conclusive authority to determine the responsibility of small business concerns; and (2) it would not consider the protest despite the protester's allegations of bad faith and procurement improprieties because SBA had not rendered a decision as to the protester's responsibility. Accordingly, the protest was dismissed.