Protest of Application of Service Contract Act to IFB

A firm protested the application of a specific act to an invitation for bids (IFB) for an indefinite requirements-type contract for maintenance, repair, and overhaul of equipment and engines. The Department of Labor suspended the application of this act to the overhaul and modification of engines from October 1978 to October 1979, and the agency amended the solicitation so that the act would not apply to the overhaul and modification of engines subject to this solicitation. The protester argued that the Labor moratorium on the application of the act to the overhaul of engines, but not to the overhaul of heavy equipment, was discriminatory and irrational, because under this IFB various items of heavy equipment would undergo the same type of processing as would the engines excepted from the act. The protester requested that the solicitation be amended to exclude the overhaul of equipment from the act as well. In previous decisions, GAO has held that Labor was responsible for administering this act, and contracting agencies must follow the views of Labor in the matter. GAO has also held that the Labor determination that the act applies to the overhaul of heavy equipment and engines was not clearly contrary to law. Since this issue was also subject to pending litigation, GAO would not consider it, and the protest was denied.