B-231413, Aug 8, 1988, 88-2 CPD 120

B-231413, Aug 8, 1988, 88-2 CPD 120

PROCUREMENT - Small Purchase Method - Purchases - Propriety DIGEST: Since Federal Acquisition Regulation permits purchases under $1,000 to be made without securing competitive quotations if the contracting officer considers the prices to be reasonable, contracting officer was not required to solicit quotation from previous supplier of the services and issuance of a purchase order to another firm was proper where firm's price quotation was reasonable on its face.

Northern Virginia Football Officials Association:

Northern Virginia Football Officials Association (NVFOA) protests the issuance of an $839.45 purchase order to the Rappahannock Valley Football Officials Association (RVFOA) by the Marine Corps Combat Development Command (Quantico, Virginia) for officiating the fall 1988 football games at Quantico High School. NVFOA contends that the procurement should be resolicited since only RVFOA was solicited for the services notwithstanding the fact that NVFOA was the incumbent. NVFOA also suggests that the Marine Corps could have obtained the services from NVFOA at lower prices than it will be paying RVFOA.

We deny the protest.

The procurement was initiated after the Marine Corps purchasing agent received a requisition for the officiating services from the Superintendent of the Quantico Dependents' School System on April 5, 1988. The requisition specified that the officials had to be certified members of an approved officials association and listed NVFOA as the incumbent source for the officials. Because the estimated cost of the services was less than $1,000, the purchasing agent decided to solicit oral quotations. Directory assistance was requested to ascertain the telephone number of NVFOA, but no listing existed. The purchasing agent then received a telephone number from another purchasing agent for a Fredericksburg Officials Association, but upon calling it the agent found that the Association had gone bankrupt. During this call, the agent was given a name and telephone number of someone connected with the RVFOA. a result, an oral quotation was obtained from RVFOA. The Marine Corps contracting officer issued a purchase order to RVFOA in the amount of $839.45 on the basis of its quotation on April 6.

Under Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Sec. 13.106(a)(1), purchases under $1,000 may be without securing competitive quotations if the contracting officer considers the prices to be reasonable. Here, after attempting to secure price quotations from NVFOA and another association, the purchasing agent issued a purchase order to RVFOA, whose price quotation appeared reasonable on its face. According to the Marine Corps, RVFOA quoted a rate of $28 per official per game for approximately 3 hours of work. Notwithstanding NVFOA's contention that it would have offered a lower price, we see no basis to conclude that RVFOA's price should have been viewed as unreasonable. Further, although the purchasing agent attempted to solicit a quotation from NVFOA, she was under no obligation to do so since FAR Sec. 13.106(a)(2) provides that purchases under $1,000 are to be distributed equitably among qualified suppliers. Accordingly, we find issuance of the purchase order to RVFOA to have been proper.

The protest is denied.