Army Procurement:

Allegations Regarding Contract Awards for Water Purification Equipment

NSIAD-88-40, Dec 28, 1987

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In response to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Army's procedures in awarding and administering contracts for 600-gallon-per-hour reverse osmosis water purification units (ROWPU).

GAO found that the Army: (1) complied with existing regulations in competitively awarding the contract; (2) saved about $15.4 million by competitively awarding the contract; (3) did not deliberately try to injure a small business ROWPU contractor; and (4) properly closed the contractor's production line, since it determined that it would not compromise its mobilization production needs by awarding the contract competitively. GAO believes that: (1) the Small Business Administration (SBA) acted reasonably in graduating the contractor from its 8(a) program; and (2) many of the concerns raised by the contractor resulted from misunderstandings and differences of opinion on how to effectively resolve disputes.