Reconsideration of Decision Involving District of Columbia Contract

The awardee of a contract for onsite laboratory services for wastewater treatment for the District of Columbia (DC) requested reconsideration of a GAO decision, in which GAO decided that the solicitation was defective and the three low bids were improperly rejected as nonresponsive. GAO recommended that the contract award for 1 year not be disturbed, but that the options for additional years of performance not be exercised, and that the procurement be solicited on a proper basis. The invitation for bids required bidders to submit a detailed outline and narrative indicating how they proposed to comply with quality control and assurance requirements. The three low bids were rejected for failing to satisfactorily comply with this requirement. GAO determined that the solicitation was defective because DC procurement procedures' and Federal procurement regulations' descriptive literature requirements did not apply to services, but were limited to products. A contracting agency cannot make a matter of responsibility into a question of responsiveness by the terms of the solicitation. The protester asserted that the GAO decision was wrong and inconsistent with regulations. GAO held that the protester did not specify any errors of law made or present any information not previously considered. The GAO decision resulted from the proper application of the regulations and was affirmed.