B-227988, Jul 31, 1987, 87-2 CPD 122
Highlights
The GAO will review it only where the federal agency involved has agreed to such review. Our Office is authorized to review protests concerning proposed contracts for the "procurement of property or services" by a federal agency. The proposed agreement is more in the nature of a sale by the agency of a license to harvest the shrimp on federally-owned property. We will review protests concerning sales by a federal agency only if the agency agrees in writing to have its protests decided by our Office. There is no basis for review of the protest by our Office. The protest is dismissed.
B-227988, Jul 31, 1987, 87-2 CPD 122
PROCUREMENT - Bid Protests - Definition DIGEST: To be subject to review by the General Accounting Office (GAO) under the Competition in Contracting Act of 1984 (CICA), a protest must pertain to a procurement of property or services by a federal agency. Protest concerning the right to harvest brine shrimp and brine shrimp eggs at San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge does not involve a procurement of property or services within the meaning of CICA, and the GAO will review it only where the federal agency involved has agreed to such review.
San Francisco Bay Brand, Inc.:
San Francisco Bay Brand, Inc. protests the rejection of its offer to harvest brine shrimp and brine shrimp eggs from the San Francisco National Wildlife Refuge ponds under request for offers No. FWS1 87034(RWG), issued by the Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. Bay Brand contends that the agency unreasonably excluded the firm based on unfounded allegations that Bay Brand had threatened to disrupt the shrimp harvest if it did not receive the contract award.
Under the Competition in Contracting Act of 1984 (CICA), our Office is authorized to review protests concerning proposed contracts for the "procurement of property or services" by a federal agency. See 31 U.S.C. Sec. 3551(1) (Supp. III 1985). Bay Brand's protest concerns a proposed agreement by a private contractor to harvest brine shrimp and brine shrimp eggs on federally-owned property, and, as such, it does not involve a procurement of property or services by a federal agency within the meaning of CICA. Rather, the proposed agreement is more in the nature of a sale by the agency of a license to harvest the shrimp on federally-owned property. As our Bid Protest Regulations indicate, we will review protests concerning sales by a federal agency only if the agency agrees in writing to have its protests decided by our Office, 4 C.F.R. Sec. 21.11(a) (1987); the Department of the Interior has not done so. As a result, there is no basis for review of the protest by our Office. See Lone Star Gas Liquids Processing, Inc., B-225707, Mar. 23, 1987, 87-1 CPD Para. 332.
The protest is dismissed.