Employees of Protester Formed Corporation and Submitted Competitive Bid

A protest filed by B.F. Goodrich concerning a contract to supply nylon pneumatic mattresses to the Defense Personnel Support Center. The protest states that the low bid was submitted by Wirt Inflatable Specialists, Inc., a company made up of Goodrich employees who formed a separate company while still under their employ and who used knowledge of cost pricing procedures used by Goodrich in preparation of their bid. This could be considered an unfair advantage. The practice has been taken under consideration by the Small Business Administration (SBA) as a possible violation of the requirements for a Certificate of Independent Price Determination. The original determination by SBA denied the contract winner a Certificate of Competency because of a pre-award survey. When Goodrich could not, upon request, provide additional evidence that Wirt employees did not reach the bid prices independently as required by law, Wirt was given another opportunity to submit a responsible bid. Goodrich again protested on the grounds that the contracting officer had no cause to reopen the inquiry and allow Wirt to submit another bid. GAO's determination states that no collusion existed on the part of Wirt employees. In addition, since no government employee was involved in the pricing issue, the procuring agency was not required to investigate the matter. Whether Goodrich takes action against its former employees is an open issue. Consequently, since the case involves a question of business practice, there is no violation of the Certificate of Independent Price Determination. GAO decided not to review the adequacy of the SBA investigation and the protest was denied.