Protest Against Award of Small Business Set-Aside Contract

A company protested the award of a contract under a total small business set-aside, alleging that the awardee was not a small business. The protester also protested the responsiveness of the second low bid and to the size status claimed by the third low bidder. Where the small business size protest was received 1-1/2 hours after the award was made on the bid opening date which was the last day of the fiscal year, termination of the contract was recommended since the Small Business Administration (SBA) subsequently upheld the protest; the contracting officer indicated that the procurement would have been referred to SBA under standard operating procedure if received before award; and the contracting officer exceeded his authority by awarding the small business set-aside contract less than 5 working days after bid opening in the absence of an urgency determination. The second low bid was nonresponsive and was properly rejected since it did not include a sufficient bid bond. Since the size protest against the third low bidder was also upheld by SBA, there would be no objection to award of the remaining requirements under the solicitation to the protester if its bid was otherwise acceptable.